


The Princess' Favourite

by commandersmartass



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Knight and Princess Relationship, Light Angst, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-10-27 09:16:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 131,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17764043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commandersmartass/pseuds/commandersmartass
Summary: "Every Queen, King, Prince, and Princess has a favourite of the castle staff, someone they value above all the others. What you choose to do with that information is up to you."Princess Amber has always found this idea stupid, picking favourites of people who helped her with her daily life sounded utterly foolish in her perspective. All she wants to focus on is getting out of the castle for a few moments so she isn't driven insane by her betrothed or her stepfather. So she doesn't view her being assigned a new guard to follow her every move with anything other than annoyance at first.Lady Vi, that same guard, however, knows this idea exists and plans to use it to her advantage to weasel her way into becoming the Princess' favourite, however, doesn't plan on her original possibly nefarious reason being usurped by her own heart betraying her, though she's not sure if she's against it either.And when the Princess begins to feel the same, she has no idea what to do about it, but a part of her yearns to reconsider her original views on the idea above. And when her betrothed and stepfather threaten to harm her and the knight's budding relationship, it's up to her and Vi to figure out a way past it





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another piece of written work of mine consisting of a friend of mine's OCs and mine! If you don't know, these are the same characters from a previous work of mine, "The Crowd Will Love Ya, Kid" only in a medieval setting! I hope you enjoy it!

Once upon a time, in a land of castles, knights, and fair maidens, there lived a royal family consisting of a kind-hearted King, a loving Queen, and a young Princess. The kingdom this family ruled, Aetheria, lived happily and soundly, and there was no real fear of the King and Queen lacking an heir, despite having lost their only son at a young age to sickness. The King, known as King Isaiah, was perfectly fine with having the princess possibly lead instead when they eventually passed on despite the Queen slightly fearing what their people would think. All lived peacefully, the Princess growing fast as a young toddler and becoming more and more curious of the outside world and the creatures inhabiting it as time passed.

Unfortunately, a year or so after the Princess’ fifth birthday, her father came down with an illness very similar to the one that had taken her brother’s life. The kingdom fell into disarray in fear of the King dying, with many rushing to try and find a cure to no avail. The sickness soon sadly took the young Princess’ father overnight as he and his wife slept, and the kingdom fell further into chaos, with no King or second Queen to rule beside the current Queen. Normally, a kingdom could be run solo, however, the current Queen, who went by the name of Queen Lorelei, fell into a state of despair, using alcohol to try and distract herself from the grief of losing her dear husband. The Princess hardly knew much of this due to being mostly taken care of by the castle maids and staff at the time, only knowing that her father was gone, though at age six it wasn’t very easy for her to understand what had happened truly, especially since she could never get a proper answer from the staff. They just assumed the Queen would let her know of what truly happened in due time.

Aetheria hit hard times for the following three years, and when the Queen finally managed to drop her alcoholism and resume her reign of the kingdom it was unfortunately too late to solve a lot of the problems, as a lack of coin and a famine were destroying the kingdom’s fragile structure, and, knowing that without help the kingdom would continue to crumble until it ceased to exist, Lorelei was forced to go to other kingdoms for help, and eventually obtained the aid of one by the name of Nirith, which promised to help solve the famine and slowly help regain the coin lost in the three years of neglect on one condition; the Queen was to marry the King of Nirith’s eldest son, luckily around her age at the time, if not slightly older.

Unfortunately, this man was, for lack of better words, a straight up prick.  
But Lorelei had no choice and went through with the deal. And thus only months later the eldest son of the King of Nirith, Prince Joseph, was married to Queen Lorelei, hereby making him King Joseph of Aetheria, formerly of Nirith. 

The Princess, not liking the, as she eloquently put it, “replacement father from Hell”, from the start, never got along with the King, always seeming to do the complete opposite of what he wanted her to do. The Princess wanted to explore the woods, something her father promised he would do with her when she was older. Joseph, however, having grown up with formal parents who followed old traditions to a tee, wanted the Princess to instead take on lessons on how to be more prim and proper early in her childhood instead of at a normal time, and thus began to scold her if she acted “unlike a proper woman should”. This angered the Princess to no end, and thus began a bitter familial rivalry that continues to this day. Lorelei, in secret, supported her daughter’s ideas more, wishing her new husband would allow her to make her own choices, however, doesn’t voice them in fear of losing the one person keeping the kingdom from falling apart. She internally knows, however, that when Aetheria can survive without Joseph’s help, that she’ll find some way to be rid of him, somehow.

As a young girl, around ten and eleven especially, the Princess was close friends with the daughter of the head maid, an intelligent young girl named Evelyn. The two commonly went into the capital city, known as Aendryr(pronounced Ayn-drier), to explore together with Evelyn’s mother and one of the nurses, or nannies, that followed the Princess around when she left the castle. It was there they met their second friend, a young girl who was the daughter of the owner of the local tavern, named Skylar, and their third friend, a homeless, rag-bound girl who claimed she had run away from her high-up parents, a Lord and a Lady from a city not far from Aendryr. When asked why by an incredulous Princess and Evelyn, the girl, calling herself Meredith, explained that she simply didn’t agree with her parent’s ideals. The girl was a beggar, by all means, but seemed to also be working on becoming a thief or rogue, having an affinity for pickpocketing. The Princess, oddly enough, seemed incredibly allured and decided to keep this strange girl around as a friend. Meredith seemed content with this, not that she could complain since the Princess would always feed her when they visited. They were an odd bunch of friends, but were close regardless, despite their differences in social class. 

As the Princess grew older, reaching her fourteenth year of age, the King decided to go looking for suitable princes to betroth her to, despite The Princess’ protests, having little to no interest in men, and even the Queen tried to stop him before both their protests were silenced. It took him a while of choosing, wanting a kingdom that would profit him more than he was looking for kingdoms with worthy men. He eventually, when the Princess was fifteen, chose a prince from one of the wealthier Kingdoms nearby, the Prince of Karewyth, also known as Prince Drake. The two were to be wed at the age of nineteen, and upon first sight, the Princess hated everything about the Prince, from his stupid pompous face to his ridiculously tight trousers and overly frilly jacket. She wanted nothing to do with him.

But sadly, her step-father insisted. This began the slowly budding rebel within the Princess’ spirit. And it only grew more and more as time went on. Every meetup she had with the Prince ended up in near disaster, half of the time due to her and him eventually bursting into an argument or from the Princess, as un-daintily as possible, clocking him in the face so hard he went staggering backwards. Despite this, the betrothal stood firm, and the Princess’ years of freedom began to shorten.

At the age of seventeen, the Princess lost a close friend of hers, not from sickness or murder, no, but because her family in a kingdom a week’s journey from Aetheria desired Evelyn and her mother’s presence, as there were better coin-making opportunities there for her. The Queen was saddened to see her head maid leave, however, the Princess was devastated in losing her closest friend, despite the fact that she promised to write to her as much as possible. The day she departed was a quiet day for the castle, and nobody really saw the Princess leave her room for a good week, not even coming out to see her other friends. Over time she recovered, however, she retained a sense of loneliness in her for quite some time despite her other two friend’s comfort, which only made her desires to escape the castle at times even stronger when her friends had to start working more instead of roaming the city all the time with the Princess.


	2. I -The Young Maiden

And thus, we have now reached the current part of our story, the Princess, now age eighteen, has grown a rather infamous reputation of sneaking out of the castle gardens, and with her old guard retiring from old age and Lorelei’s insistence that she’d pick out the next guard, the Princess was finding it much easier to leave the castle and go by herself anywhere she wished since the servants sent to watch her would lose sight of her fast if she was careful.

It’s not like she went to anyplace that dangerous, in her eyes. She hardly ventured too deep into  
the woods and anytime she went down to the marketplace she’d go to find her friends and hang out with them. As long as her face was hidden nobody so much as quirked a brow, and most wouldn’t spare a glance at a woman tagging alongside a person such as Meredith, who’d joined a guild of thieves as soon as she reached the age of sixteen. Though most the townsfolk didn’t know of that, they simply assumed her to be a lowly person among the hierarchy. 

Skylar wasn’t one to tag along as often as she did in the past, however, now working at the tavern full time, though she’d always come around to say hi at least when given a break.

Sneaking back into the castle, however, was always a risk. Going through the front wasn’t an option, and the secret hole in the castle gardens wall was always a risk considering anyone could spot her scrambling from the bushes in front of it. Though, however, the Princess knew it was her best choice right now, and sure enough spent two minutes trying to sneakily push her way out from behind a bush, her dress catching on a few branches as she finally managed to pry herself from the foliage, scowling as she dusts herself off and gets the leaves out of her hair. Almost as soon as she steps on the cobblestone path of the garden, she starts as she hears sudden footsteps as a woman comes toddling over, eyes wide.

“Ah, your majesty, there you are!” she says exasperatedly, wheezing a little. “I’ve been looking all over for you, I worried you might have gotten lost...or kidnapped...or...worse.”

“....right,” Amber nods, raising a brow. “Well, no, I was just….out here the entire time, you must have missed me, it’s no big deal.”

The woman seems to nod as if understanding. “Ah, you may be right, I did only pass through here once after all, I should have looked harder, my apologies, my lady.”

Amber sighs softly. “There’s….no need to apologise at all, really…”

“Right, right, if you say so, my lady,” the woman nods. “However, your er….your mother needs you, said it was important, so shall I lead you to her?”

Amber chuckles softly. “Surely I am not so daft I can’t lead myself to the throne room, my mother’s chambers, or my own? Just tell me where she is and I’ll let you go back to your own devices.”

“I- are you quite sure? I don’t mind-“

“Utterly positive,” Amber interrupts, nodding. “I’m a big girl, I've got this.”

“Well, er, then I shall be on my way then, back to my quarters until you require my assistance, my lady,” the servant states, giving an awkward nod, clearly still flummoxed over the Princess’ denial of her assistance. Amber gives her a curt nod in return and walks past her, sighing heavily.

“Whatever could my mother want now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rather short chapter but it's just to introduce Amber to anyone who doesn't really know her! They won't always be this short I hope.


	3. II - The Fair Knight

Travelling through the many hallways of the castle, her steps light and her hands to her side, Amber keeps silent, staying within her thoughts as she eyes the doors leading up to her mother’s chambers. Her icy gaze fixates on the large door at the end of the hall, and with a huff she strides forward, opening the door and entering, shutting the door behind her. She walks a bit more before spotting her mother chatting with an armoured figure by the table in her room, and she beams upon spotting her daughter.

“Ah, there you are, Amber, thought I’d have to reschedule your meeting today,” she remarks, gesturing toward the armour-clad figure beside her. The knight’s helmet is off, placed on the table beside her, and they turn to meet Amber’s gaze with her own.

Amber immediately notices the knight’s height as she moves a little closer, growing, to her disdain, a mite envious of it. Being as she was shorter than her mother, Amber disliked her height, being one of the shorter folk in the castle. The top of her head met this girl’s lips at most, and she had to look up to regard her face. She tilts her head a little analytically when noticing the girl’s black hair covering her left eye, meeting the visible blue one with her own, noticing their eye colours were close if the not the same. Amber starts a little when the knight seems to remember something after gazing at her, dropping down into a kneel.

“Your Highness,” she says first, looking up at Amber again before standing. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Charmed,” Amber responds, turning to look at her mother. “I’m assuming that she’s my new guard?”

The Queen nods. “Indeed, Amber, this is Lady Vitoli, she’s newer than some of the other guards here, and your father seemed....a little apprehensive regarding her, but she’s shown a lot of promise so far, and she was recommended to me by the Commander, so she wasn’t too hard a choice in my opinion.”

The knight nods. “You can just call me Vi, your-”

“Amber is fine,” Amber interrupts, making Vi pause for a moment, her eye widening a little. “I’m not one for titles, I’ll call you Vi, you call me Amber.”

Vi pauses for a moment, blinking, though after a moment she nods. “Right, got it, Amber, then.”

“Good,” Amber nods back, turning to her mother again. A wry smirk grows on her face. “Surely you’ve warned her of my...tendencies, then, mother?”

Lorelei sighs heavily. “Yes, I have informed her on your...rebellious tendencies, and she has sworn to keep you in check, I’m hoping that since you’re both close in age she’ll understand you better, maybe.”

A snort of amusement leaves Amber at that. “That’s cute,” she sniggers. “You really think that’ll work.”

“Amber,” Lorelei warns, raising a brow.

“Don’t “Amber” me,” Amber huffs, rolling her eyes. “I get it, she’ll keep me from getting myself killed, I know.”

“Exactly,” Lorelei nods, chuckling as she looks over at Vi. “I hope you now see what you’re getting into?”

Amber turns to look at Vi, squinting at the look the taller girl gives her. It’s almost analytical, and for a moment Amber swears she feels like there’s something else to her gaze she can’t quite put a finger on. “I think I can survive, I’ve probably dealt with far worse than a rebellious teenager.”

“I am eighteen years old, I am an _adult-_ ”

“Really? You don’t look it, didn’t know eighteen-year-olds could be your height.”

Amber scowls and fixes an icy glare on Vi. “Watch your tongue,” she warns, before whirling back over to face her mother. “She can be dismissed, for now, I suppose I’ll see her tomorrow morning,” she says pointedly. “I’m going to retire for the rest of the afternoon, mother, I’ll see you at dinner,” she adds gruffly, turning on her heel to head for the door. “Love you.”

\-----------------------------------------------------

Lorelei watches Amber go with a soft sigh, turning as Vi turns to look at her.

“Is she...normally like that?” Vi questions, raising her visible brow.

Lorelei shakes her head. “She’s sweet, she’s just...not good at showing it right now, tensions are high with her wedding coming in seven months, she’s just….trying to enjoy the freedom she has before it ties her down.”

“Ah,” Vi responds, confused on how the tensions could be high. _‘You’d think she’d be happy about being married, though, knowing how some kingdoms work…perhaps not…’_.

“Just...keep her out of trouble for me, okay, Vi? I don’t mind her wandering into the town but...I know she likes to sneak into the woods and the last thing I want is my daughter attacked by wolves or something along those lines.”

Vi regards the Queen carefully. _‘If you wanted her to be safe, you shouldn’t have chosen me as a guard’_ she thinks, clenching her left fist slowly. 

“As you wish, your majesty.”


	4. III - The Initial Quarrel

Amber loathes how long it takes to get ready in the morning most the time, especially on days where she’s forced to wear fancier wear than normal. 

She normally dresses herself, finding the idea of being dressed by the castle staff absolutely pathetic. She had working hands and legs, and she could handle herself, there was no need for help when putting on a dress outside of the tie on the back if it had one. Plus, when she dresses herself she doesn’t have to beg to not have to wear a corset, which always has its benefits.

She was wearing a rather simple dress today, she considered wearing the outfit she wears for horseback riding under a cloak out today, though Amber knew well enough she’d be stopped and told to change, much to her disdain. 

Walking out of the castle and into the gardens, Amber makes a beeline for the hole in the garden wall. She had woken up early to evade any outside staff and the guards only positioned themselves at the doors, so she knew nobody would see her. She stops at the bush concealing the exit, takes a deep breath, and steps off the walkway and onto the soil before she suddenly feels a hand on her shoulder, startling her and nearly making her screech in fright before she whirls around, eyes wide with shock and slight fear.

Most castle staff wouldn’t touch Amber’s shoulders unless it was required, and though she wasn’t against being touched the only three people who ever would were Meredith, Skylar, and Drake, and a quick process of elimination gave her the latter of the three as a likely choice, and she instinctively grabs the person’s wrist quickly. “Don’t fucking touch-”

Her eyes widen a little more in realisation when she recognises the person who had actually touched her shoulder. Vi blinks at her, eye widened, her hand going slack in Amber’s grip, much to the princess’ surprise. She had expected her to yank it away.

“I-” Amber starts, her throat going dry. The fire in her died in seconds, feeling bad for snapping despite having been so snappish the first time they had met. She wasn’t happy about having a guard to tail her around but she didn’t want to possibly hurt the girl when Vi hadn’t even done anything to her yet. “Oh my God, I’m- I’m so sorry I-”

“It’s...fine,” Vi murmurs, slowly pulling her wrist away from Amber’s grip. “I clearly startled you, I should have spoken and not grabbed your shoulder.”

Although Amber does agree with that, even a simple tap would have been better than her whole hand, she still feels a little guilty. “No, it’s...I just thought you were someone else is all, but uh...yeah, a warning might have been nice.”

Vi nods, moving back a little bit. “I apologise, then.”

“No need,” Amber murmurs, looking to the side. “But...what are you doing out here? You’re not supposed to come to my side until around...ten,” she questions.

Vi shrugs. “I came early today, it’s my first day on the job, and besides, seems it was good I did, considering you appeared to be sneaking out when I found you.”

Amber’s brows raise. “Oh? And pray tell, how would you know that?”

“That hole behind the bush isn’t as hidden as you think, Amber,” Vi snorts. “I can see it from those hedges over there,” she gestures behind her. “It’s a shock nobody else has noticed it yet, they really should repair it,” she adds. “Never know if someone might sneak in with devious intentions.”

Amber does not like how she much she likes it when the knight says her name, though she assumes she’s just not used to it since most of the other castle staff ignore her requests to be called by her name and give her a title instead. Nevertheless, she frowns, the idea of losing one of her easier escape routes not something she’s that into.

“Ooor,” she starts, swaying on the balls of her feet for a moment, “we keep it because it’s a good escape route in case of emergency!”

“Then perhaps I should put a guard in front of it, then?”

“No!”

Vi smirks slowly. “I know this is one of your little escape routes, princess,” she starts. “And since I promised your mother to keep you safe I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep you from leaving, but I can always come with you wherever you want to go, so you’ll be safe.”

Amber pouts, narrowing her eyes. “I can take care of myself!” 

“Can you now?” Vi responds, raising her brows. She backs up for a moment, and Amber grows confused before gasping as the knight suddenly draws her sword from its sheath, her heart hammering in her chest for a moment until the taller woman suddenly grabs the blade in her gloved hand and hands the hilt to Amber.

“Go ahead, then, show me.”

Amber scoffs. “I can hold a sword,” she says, sticking out her tongue as she grabs the hilt. It’s heavier than the ones she’s used to, but she’s able to keep it in her hand. 

“See?”

“No,” Vi snickers, an amused gleam in her eye. “I meant show me as in strike something, like uh….this hedge right here,” she decides, pointing toward the hedge behind her as she moves to the side. “Go ahead, don’t worry, I’ll take the blame for it later.”

Amber frowns. “I don’t want to risk you getting lashed for damaging the hedges,” she says worriedly. Vi seems a bit surprised at the worried tone, and she laughs.

“You know, the Amber I met yesterday afternoon gave me the “I’ll have you whipped if you so much as annoy me” vibe, guess your mother wasn’t wrong when she said you were sweet.”

Amber grows embarrassed, looking to the side. “Look, I just don’t want you getting hurt for no reason, alright?” she grumbles, shrugging. “Mother wouldn’t even bat an eye, but the King...I’m not so sure.”

“You don’t refer to his majesty as your father, I’ve noticed.”

“He is no father of mine,” Amber says bluntly, huffing. “I do not like him.”

“Oh? And why is that, pray tell?”

Amber shakes her head. “Not a story for today, you may find out soon enough if you continue to stand as my guard, however.”

Vi cocks a brow but says nothing more on it. “Fine, then, now, are you going to swing that sword, or keep holding it like a child opening their first practice weapon?”

Amber narrows her eyes. “I’ll show you a child,” she hisses, swinging forward with the sword suddenly toward the hedges. The blade thwacks against one of the thin branches and cuts it off, letting it fall with a soft thump. She grins triumphantly at Vi. “See, I told you-”

Amber pauses when noticing the look on Vi’s face, looking like she was trying extremely hard not to laugh. “What?! What’s so funny?!”

Vi puts her fist to her lips to try and stifle her laughter to no avail, shaking her head. “No- it’s just,” she laughs more, nearly doubling over, “you swing like a five-year-old with a wooden sword!” she cackles, “even most newbies know not to swing that sloppily!”

Amber’s face turns beet red, and she scowls. “I still hit something!” she growls, thrusting the sword back into Vi’s hands when the knight looks at her. “I cut off a bloody branch! That’s more than a child could do!”

“A bush,” Vi smirks, sheathing her sword as she speaks. “Is not the same as an enemy, whether it be an animal, monster, or person. You wouldn’t swipe like that toward a dragon, would you? You’d hardly scratch its scales!”

Scowling still, Amber huffs. “Whatever, I was never trained in swordsmanship, cut me some slack, would you?!” she groans. “You’re the one that’s supposed to protect me from dragons and the like, not me.” _‘Though if I could learn how to fight I’d gladly reverse that statement’_ she adds in her head.

With a sigh, she glances over at Vi, not waiting for her response. “Either way, you’re still not going to let me go out alone, aren’t you?” she mutters, peering up at the knight with an annoyed look on her face. “I know this game well enough, you’re simply distracting me.”

Vi chuckles, nodding slowly. “You’re a smart princess,” she comments teasingly. “And, yeah, you got me, sorry, Amber, but you’re not going anywhere without me anytime soon. Queen’s orders and all that.”

Amber snorts. “I dunno, you don’t take me as the “rule follower” type, though, perhaps you could...bend them...just for me?” she tries, batting her eyelashes as she moves a little closer to the knight, who raises a single brow. “I am a princess, after all, I can get you a lot of things, you know,” she adds.

She doesn’t expect Vi to press a finger to her forehead, stopping her due to her growing surprised. “Sorry, cutie,” she responds, a small smirk on her lips as she says the nickname. It makes Amber’s eyes widen, _nobody_ called her that outside of maybe Meredith on a rare occasion, it wasn’t okay for staff to call the royalty by nicknames as far as she knew. “The offer might be tempting, but I like my head where it is, I can’t risk losing it by endangering you.”

Amber narrows her eyes and immediately backs up a little. She huffs, but, seemingly to Vi’s interest, she doesn’t stomp off like she assumes the knight expected her too, she simply nods. It wasn’t worth throwing a fit over, she’d look like a child, and if this woman was going to be stuck beside her for most her time, she’d rather not look like an absolute brat during it. 

“Fine,” she eventually concedes. “You can come with me to the dining hall, I haven’t eaten yet.”

Vi chuckles. “As I might remind you, I _will_ be coming with you everywhere you go. The only times I will not be by your side is when you’re in your room and for bathroom breaks, unless the queen orders me to stand down.”

“Aren’t you supposed to respond to _my_ orders as my guard?”

“I will respond to any order that doesn’t involve me leaving your side unless it’s to get something for you or if you’re having a private conversation with someone, so no, you cannot order me to “leave you alone”,” she adds, having caught the look Amber had suddenly given her.

“Hmph,” Amber huffs, a disappointed look on her face. “At least you’re not insufferable, if I don’t manage to find a way to sneak past you, you at least won’t make me want to pull my hair out.”

“I see only the kindest of compliments leave your tongue, your highness,” Vi responds with a smarmy grin on her face. They’re entering the castle at this point, and as Amber enters she turns to give an ingenuine smile toward Vi.

“Perhaps someday if you get close enough to me I’ll give you better ones,” she offers playfully.

Vi raises her eyebrows, but she grins back, a genuine one to contrast Amber’s own. 

“I see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much longer chapter, hopefully, that'll be a reoccurring theme, haha!  
> That's all of the prewritten chapters I have now, though, the next update will hopefully come soon if my writers block doesn't murder me first.


	5. IV - The First (Of Likely Many) Confrontations

The princess intrigued Vi. 

She knew not what exactly it was that sparked her curiosity, though Vi knew for sure she found the girl she now helped protect interesting. And Vi was not sure how she felt about that. 

Growing attached would be a problem, her mission prohibited something like that, if anything, she was to act attached so the princess would grow attached to her. Her mother made it clear that this might take time, but it shouldn’t take long if she were smart and tactical with her actions and words.

 _‘I just wish I could have more time to explore this place, having to be around the princess almost constantly might help my mother’s plan but mine was to also get to explore for myself…’_ she thinks to herself reproachfully as she pulls on her gear; light and easy to move in today, she wasn’t expecting anything too big to handle today. 

She was honestly just grateful her objective wasn’t to kill the princess, as merciless as Vi claimed to be sometimes and how low of a first impression Amber made the first time they ever met she found herself disliking the idea of having her blood on her own hands. Her eyes narrow a little as she delves back into her head once more.

_‘Everyone told me the people here were ignorant, horrible selfish people but so far all I’ve experienced is kindness, even from the princess, and I originally thought she might be a selfish brat. Some sort of facade, perhaps?’_

The day prior, after leaving the gardens, Amber had led Vi to the dining hall so she could eat, and had surprised Vi upon entering by telling her to sit beside her.

“You should eat as well,” the shorter girl had said, gazing up into Vi’s eyes. There was no smile or softness in expression, still the same poker face, with a slightly quirked left brow. 

Vi had grown confused at this. She’d eaten in the barracks earlier like the other guards were supposed to, as far as she knew she was not permitted to sit at the table for royals or guests to the kingdom unless given permission first. “I’ve eaten already, your high-”

“It’s Amber, remember, and I feel as if half a loaf of bread and water isn’t a proper breakfast,” Amber interrupted, and for a long moment Vi had wondered if she could read minds, how had she’d known she’d eaten that this morning? “From now on, when I eat here, you eat too, unless you truly don’t want to, but regardless you are sitting here with me, that’s an order.”

It had been the first order Amber had given her, and it wasn’t an order to fetch her something or yield from attacking a stranger who had stepped too close, it had been an order to simply _sit beside her_ , which shocked Vi to her core. She hadn’t expected this, not from a princess who had made it clear how annoyed Vi’s insistence she wasn’t to leave without her by her side. If anything, despite the princess’ soft exterior in appearance, she had expected to be treated like any guard she was told were treated here by friends back home, like an attack dog on a leash. 

She had been snapped out of her thoughts by Amber’s voice, however, and when the princess jabbed her arm she blinked rapidly, starting a little.

“Vi?” Amber said, her brows furrowed. “Are you just going to stand there staring at me as if I grew a second head or are you going to sit? I have to ask the cook for food and I need to know what you’d like as well.”

Vi nodded dumbly for a moment before taking a seat beside Amber slowly, though with her newly granted permission her cocky attitude had managed to take hold as she hid her surprise with a smirk, leaning back into the chair as if relaxing in a medieval recliner. 

“Sorry, was just,” Vi _knew_ she shouldn’t have said what she said so soon but she couldn't help it, she hadn’t even been lying, really, though at that moment she wasn’t going to admit that. “..enjoying the view,” she had ended, finishing off with a wink. 

Amber’s eyes had widened, and Vi had forced a smirk not to grow on her face as the princess’ face tinged a light shade of pink. “Your flattery isn’t going to win you extra points, you know,” she'd managed to stammer out eventually. 

“Aww, shame, I could think of so many more things to say, guess I’ll hold my tongue.”

“You do that,” Amber forces out, though Vi had a feeling she had been secretly into Vi’s flattery.

They had eaten the same meal then, various fruits and bread, and their chatter was limited to very brief small talk throughout it. Upon finishing, Amber retired back to her room after visiting the castle library, and Vi returned to the barracks, deciding to lead a group of younger knights out to train with her free time and to get her mind cleared.

Now, Vi was leaving her room in the barracks. With her heightened status as the princess’ guard, Vi was given a room instead of having to bunk with other knights. The commander of all the guard had mentioned that commanders and lieutenants got much nicer rooms in the castle itself, and a small part Vi itched to get one of them as she passed by a few of the waking guards milling about. She frowns, however, remembering that, if the plan was followed, she wouldn’t be here too long though, so that desire was unreachable at best.

_‘Get the princess’ trust, take her when at an opportune moment, and get back home as fast as you can with her in tow, then you won’t be a royal guard much longer, you’ll just return to normal life.’_

As she’s about to leave, a voice echoes from behind Vi, and she turns to spot a lightly armoured form leaning against the doorway leading toward the guard’s dining area.

“Oi, Vitoli!” he calls, grinning in a friendly manner as Vi squints to try and remember the knight’s name. It pops into her mind as he speaks again. “I know ye gotta get to yer job and alla tha’, busy busy, but spare a moment ta talk? Last guard under the princess whaddn’t one for talk, and I gotta hear about how yer job is. Is her majesty as bratty as the rumours say?”

“Archibald,” Vi remembers his name aloud. “It’s really none of your business, you know,” she responds smoothly. “But no, she isn’t. She...let me eat in the dining hall with her yesterday, actually.”

The knight, Archibald, raises his eyebrows at that, and he strokes his brown beard in thought. “Well, blimey, y'know Reginald always came back from the job tired off his arse, only complain we ever got outta ‘im was about how she kept escapin’ and gettin’ herself inta trouble with some a’ the folk in the town, maybe she likes you!” he laughs.

“Perhaps,” Vi chuckles, smirking a little. “I do have quite the charm, I’ve heard.”

“Her Majesty was always more comfy around the maidens, I’ve noticed, in all my years here,” Archibald remarks with a shrug. “Almost makes one wonder...but with that betrothed o’ hers I ‘spose there’s not much to question there.”

Vi snorts. “You assume she prefers me because she might like women, then? A bold claim,” she smirks. _‘One I’ve proven if I remember her reaction when I made that comment about her in the dining hall yesterday.’_

“Ain’t my business to decide what her majesty likes, I’m not one to look into folk’s private lives like that, would be a hypocrite of me to do so,” Archibald defends himself, chuckling as Vi rolls her eye.

“Indeed, I’m sure Percival wouldn’t be too happy to find you gossiping about her highness’ sexuality, as interesting as it may be.”

“Aye, well Percival can put a rag in it! He gets to share a bed with me, he can handle a lil’ gossip from time to time! I know he gets interested too as much as he claims he doesn’t, behind those spectacles is-”

“A man with too many secrets in his head, I know, I know, Archibald,” Vi interrupts with a light laugh. “But as much as I’d love to gossip with you I have to go make sure a certain princess isn’t running someone who isn’t me ragged, don’t want to get jealous,” she says, not waiting for the knight’s response as she turns on her heel. _‘I’ll give the knights here one thing,'_ Vi thinks with an amused gleam to her eye, _'they certainly are all interesting in their own ways.’_

\------------------------------------------

Once arriving at Amber’s room in the castle, Vi wonders for a moment if she should knock or wait for the princess. She was here on time, if not a bit late thanks to Archibald, after all. 

“If anything,” Vi murmurs to herself as she stands in front of the doors. “She should know I’m outside,” she decides, raising her fist to the door and knocking loudly. “Amber?” she calls. “I’m here now, when you’re ready to leave I’ll be wai-”

“Lady Vitoli?” a voice calls, and Vi pauses, turning to notice one of the maids a few feet away in the hall. “Whatever are you doing over here? I thought you might be with her majesty now?”

Vi furrows her brows. “I...am, I have just arrived, has Amber left her room yet?”

The maid’s lips turn into a fine line and her face pales as Vi narrows her eye suspiciously. “I...I thought she was waiting for you beside the gardens, near the stables? She told me that- oh dear…” she pauses, her hands raising mere inches from her lips. “I should’ve realised-”

Vi clenches her fists, swallowing a groan as she regards the maid. “Of course,” she grits her teeth. “She wouldn’t have gotten too far, don’t worry, I had a guard stationed last night and this morning over the area she uses to escape. I’ll go rescue him from having to deal with an angry dwarf,” she mutters under her breath, hardly paying the maid anymore mind as she storms past her, moving into a jog as she enters the castle gardens. She spots the guard she assigned in mere moments after heading down the cobblestone path and freezes in her tracks, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

The guard was still standing there as if nothing had happened, eyes alert and meeting Vi’s own with a surprised look on his face. Amber was nowhere to be seen, and a sinking feeling begins to form in Vi’s gut as she realises that the smaller girl might have had other escape routes.

She doesn’t even hear the guard as she whirls around on the balls of her feet and heads to the only other plausible place Amber could have escaped using; the stables. _‘I swear, when I get my hands on her she’s going to be very grateful I can’t hurt her,'_ she thinks, utterly furious. Not only was she embarrassed that she had slipped past her, but she was also, oddly enough, angry at how reckless the princess was being in general. 

_‘No proper sword or self-defence training, no way of fighting back if some rogue spots her and tries to do God knows what.’_ Her lip quivers a little involuntarily as she pushes her way into the stables, realising Amber used one of the back gates to sneak out when nobody was looking. _‘She could get herself killed and this entire kingdom would be in disarray whether she thinks so or not.’_

A small voice in Vi’s head reminds her that she’ll end up causing disarray soon enough and turn into the person she’s talking about by taking the princess, but for once she pushes it aside as if it were simply in her way. There was no time to focus on the plan, the princess was in danger, and Vi wasn’t going to let her die or get injured while she was around.

Thankfully it had rained the night prior, and Vi, after a while of going straight after leaving the back gate, noticed some muddy footprints that had flattened the grassy field she was currently trudging through. She follows them to the entrance of the woodland that surrounded a good amount of the castle and her blood runs cold when she realises the footsteps lead inside.

The forest would make it near impossible to track Amber if she went off a trail, and Vi knew Amber was smart enough to know that herself, which meant Vi would have to pick a direction and hope for the best.

And as she unsheathes her sword and prepares to slash it through any branches or brambles in her way, she finally understands just why Reginald always came back to the barracks exhausted.

\-------------------------------------

It takes Vi what feels like forever to hack her way through the woodland, hissing agitatedly whenever she stumbles over unseen brambles or roots. The idea that Amber would willingly travel this deep into the forest both bothered Vi as well as made her grow curious, but the fury she was feeling having to go through this in the first place overwhelmed that.

_‘When I found out she would sneak out of the castle at times I assumed it would be to go to the town, not to go romping about in the woods alone! At least the town has people in it that might try to stop someone attempting to harm her!’_

Vi pauses her thoughts and movements when she spots light ahead and hears running water, a sigh of relief leaving her lips. At the very least she could get a drink or try to figure out where she was if what she was nearing was a field. She pushes onward, her armoured boots causing the autumn leaves to crunch as she stepped on them. It makes her cringe, and she hopes nobody else is nearby in the woods except for possibly Amber. 

She finally pushes one more set of leafy branches aside, snorting as a leaf brushes her nose, before gasping silently once she enters the clearing just slightly. Not only was it a small open space in the woods with plenty of shaded spots, a slow-moving creek running through the end of it, and with plenty of shrubs that Vi could tell well enough likely sprouted flowers in the springtime, but it also housed the certain girl Vi had been searching for since the past hour. But instead of rushing forward angrily, grabbing the girl, and promptly dragging her back to the castle, Vi finds herself frozen, simply staring instead.

Amber’s sitting beside the creek, letting her feet rest in the slow-moving water as she runs her fingers through the slightly tugging liquid. Her back is turned to Vi, and the sun shines brightly on her strawberry-blonde hair as Vi hears her hum to herself, seemingly reaching the climax of the song she was humming as she swayed a little bit.

 _‘....she’s been here before,’_ Vi realises, silently sheathing her sword. She didn’t want to frighten Amber if and when she turned around, as Vi likely looked bedraggled enough. _‘I wonder...does she come here to relax, maybe? She’s not walking she’s just...sitting, thinking of something I’d assume.’_

Her anger washes away for a moment like the river’s flow, and she simply watches the princess as she sways to the tune of the song she’s humming, and Vi doesn’t realise the song has ended until she’s startled by Amber’s voice suddenly ringing out in the clearing, snapping her out of the thoughts she’d sunken herself into.

“You know, you should know that armour hardly helps you be silent in the woods, I know you’re here, Vi,” she says calmly, though Vi notices Amber’s shoulders tense, and she frowns. “Just scream at me about how stupid I am and leave it there so we can have this be done with, unless you plan on dragging me home through the mud, in which here,” she turns and stands up sharply, reaching her hand out toward Vi, the sun causing her wet skin to shine slightly. “Take me as you will.”

It takes everything in Vi not to call out the clear double entendre Amber had said and she wonders if the shorter girl had realised what exactly she had said, though if she had Amber showed no sign of it. Regardless, Vi strides forward as if driven by some unknown force in her, and, without really thinking, grabs Amber’s outstretched hand, not in a rough manner, a surprisingly gentle one, and she, to Amber and her own clear surprise, spins her as if they were in a ballroom event and pulls her toward her other arm, letting her go with the first and catching Amber with her free appendage securing itself around her waist. Amber’s eyes are wide with shock as she regards the taller girl, her mouth parted slightly as Vi looks down at her.

Despite her anger prior, Vi can’t help but grin cheekily. She hadn’t really intended to do what she just did, it had been an odd instinct to grab Amber’s hand, almost a want to, and she had to cover that up somehow. “I will do no such thing,” she whispers softly, words for Amber’s ears only as if the plants around them could hear. “Though I won’t lie to you when I say I’m not very pleased with you making me worry about you this morning, I had feared I might find you torn apart and bloodied by wolves, princess.”

Amber’s lips purse, though her eyes remain fixated into Vi’s own eye. “You underestimate me, then,” she whispers back, not making a move to remove herself from Vi’s grip. “Though I didn’t play you as a dancer.”

Vi smirks a little. “Back in my old town I was known for it,” she responds smoothly. “I didn’t play you as a singer.”

“Humming is not the same as singing,” Amber points out, and Vi finally lets the smaller girl go, feeling as if she might be holding her for a bit too long than anyone would consider normal. Amber seems almost disappointed at it, but she doesn’t show it for too long. “Unless you think you can dance to humming, of course.”

Vi quirks a brow and reaches out her hand again. “You want me to dance with you, then?”

“I want you to show me what you were known for in your old town, yes,” Amber responds. “I am bored, and I feel as if we should...get to know one another better,” she adds, and Vi’s brows raise as Amber bites her lip. “I understand that I frightened you and I apologise, and...if we..are going to have to be around each other for as long as you and I might be we should at least know about each other,” she explains. 

“Well,” Vi murmurs, as Amber’s hand meets her own and she pulls her closer, directing Amber’s other hand to the shoulder opposite of her occupied hand, once there that same arm snaking down to circle the princess’ waist gently. “I will dance with you, tell you anything you’d like, but only if you tell me first why you’re out here, is that a deal you can make with me? Or shall we debate as if we are in your kingdom’s court?”

Amber smirks wryly, her eyes narrowing just slightly, contemplatively. “One would assume you’re ordering me with your tone,” she responds. “A turn of the tables, I see.”

“One might also assume,” Vi smirks a similar wry smirk. “That you might like being ordered from time to time,” she whispers this out, and Amber’s eyes widen once more but she has no time to rebuke before Vi pulls her into a normal-paced spin around the clearing, one typical of any ballroom event, something they could talk while doing. “Now answer me.”

Vi relishes in the faint pink Amber’s face turns at that. “I will answer your questions as you may wish,” she whispers back, and Vi at first is a bit surprised at just how obediently Amber agreed, and it hits Vi quickly what that might mean.

_‘She feels she must order others around, due to her high standing, but actually prefers to follow orders herself, perhaps? Interesting…’_

“Good,” Vi nods sharply, turning as they reach the edge of the clearing, leading Amber slowly back toward the middle in their slow gait. “Now, why did you come here? And why without me? I would have said yes if you had simply told me.”

Amber blinks, sighing as she keeps up the pace with Vi, though Vi finds herself keeping Amber from slipping up multiple times, which surprises her, having expected the princess to have at least gotten ballroom dancing down at her current age. 

“I come here to relax and think thoughts that might be muddled in my head,” she explains. “I have since I was young, my father used to bring me out here when he wasn’t ill or busy with other affairs,” Amber begins. “It’s quiet here, nobody is...asking me for things or asking me what they should do, so I don’t feel as stressed as I do inside the castle, but I am also here because I need to mentally prepare myself for the day ahead, and as for your second question…”

Vi makes a note to ask her on why she felt the need to prepare herself mentally for the day ahead. Was something going on? She certainly hadn’t been informed on it.

“Sir Reginald, my old guard, as you know, was, to be blunt, an old trout with a stick so far up his ass you’d be able to pull it from his mouth,” she adds, and the crudity of the sentence makes Vi nearly burst out laughing, barely keeping composure. “He would only take me to the town, and when there wouldn’t let me talk to anyone, so forgive me for assuming you might be like him, clearly you are not.”

Vi sniggers. “Well, I am not as old as Sir Reginald is, nor am I as uptight,” she explains, and Amber gasps as Vi suddenly lets go of her to let Amber lurch out a bit before pulling her back in to spin her, finally returning to their previous stance to move about the clearing. “I’d actually like to consider myself rather loose, fun-loving, even, when I’m not trying to keep your neck out of reach of any prone blades,” she smirks at the amused eye roll Amber gives her at that.

“Indeed, it’s nice to have a female knight around my age at my side, actually,” Amber admits. “Someone I might be able to relate with, maybe,” she chuckles. “Someone easy to talk to, like you.”

“And I suppose there are worse people I could be assigned to guard,” Vi teases, chuckling as Amber looks up at Vi with a slight pout. “Don’t pout, I have every right to say that with what you pulled today.”

“I suppose so…” Amber admits with a sigh. “But it’s my turn to ask a question. Where’d you come from? What was your childhood like?”

“That’s two questions,” Vi smirks. Though, internally, she grows nervous, realising she’d have to lie or at least stretch the truth a little. _‘I should have just questioned her, God damn it.’_

“You asked me two,” Amber retorts with a snicker, and it grows into a genuine giggle when Vi’s eye narrows and her lip curls in a slight scowl.

“Damn it, you’re right,” Vi grumbles, remembering it now. “I did ask two, I suppose I’ll….regale you with a summary of my younger life,” she sighs, pushing Amber off into another spin to give her more time to think. When she pulls her back into her previous embrace, she exhales for a moment before speaking. 

“I was born in a small village...far from here,” she starts. “You wouldn’t know it, wouldn’t want to, either. My mother was one of the higher ups in the village and I had an older brother as well, dunno where they are though, guess they might still be in the village,” she shrugs.

Amber nods. “Okay.”

“And I grew up relatively normally, as normal as a child could have, and before you ask, my mother had me take dance lessons when I was younger, I decided to advance my skills in the regard as I grew older though, good thing, too, since now I can use it to impress pretty maidens such as yourself.”

Amber lets out a playfully coquettish giggle at that. “Well, colour me impressed, then.”

Vi shows a sly smirk at that, and it grows as she suddenly dips the shorter girl down toward the ground, making Amber gasp softly. “Now, why don’t you tell me about _your_ childhood, then?”

Amber blinks up at Vi. “Not when I’m being leaned back like this,” she smiles regardless, clearly ignoring the red that’s risen on her cheeks. Vi can’t help but smile back, finding herself liking the girl’s grins, she hadn’t gotten to see them before during the last two days. She pulls her back into their normal dance and twirls them both around, though a bit slower as Amber began to speak.

“My childhood is as you’d expect it might be for a princess, spoiled rotten, everything handed to me, the like,” Amber starts with a roll of her eyes. “Well, until my father died, but...even after that I can’t say I was treated too badly, the most torture I ever had to handle was the etiquette classes the new King put me through.”

“...etiquette classes?” Vi tilts her head at that, confused.

“You know, classes to teach princesses how to be proper and all that, teaches them how to properly curtsy, how to eat, proper lady things.”

Vi rolls her eyes. “Ah, I see, so he’s one of those people,” she scoffs. _‘I’ve heard many a bad thing about King Joseph, seems rather interesting that his own stepdaughter holds as much disdain for him as the people back home…’_

“Mhm, you know I wasn’t supposed to be betrothed either, originally I was supposed to be able to find my own partner but...he wanted to reap the benefits of marrying two kingdoms together, unfortunately.”

Vi scowls. “Betrothals are never good from what I’ve heard,” she states. “Forcing two people that don’t love each other together is never good, leads to...rough circumstances.”

“Indeed,” Amber sighs. “But there’s….nothing I can do about it,” she frowns deeply, and Vi realises that Amber’s feet have stopped moving and that she’s begun to back away, much to her, to her surprise, disappointment. “Other than enjoy my final seven months of freedom, I suppose.”

Vi watches Amber walk slowly back over to the creek, sitting down on a rock and letting her feet dip slightly into the water. Vi watches her for a moment, feeling a strong amount of pity for the smaller girl, something that doesn’t even shock her at this point. She slowly walks over and takes a seat beside Amber, gazing down at her wordlessly.

“I just…don’t love him,” Amber smiles bitterly. “I’m not capable of loving any man, to be utterly honest with you, but even if I could it wouldn’t be him,” she grits her teeth, pulling her legs up to her so she could wrap her arms around them, pressing her face into her knees. Vi’s eye narrows immediately, and she hates the fact that she almost instinctively looks toward Amber’s bared skin to see if any marks might be there, breathing a sigh of relief when she notices none.

“What does he do?” Vi murmurs softly, leaning down a little so she was eye-to-eye with the smaller girl. “As your guard I-”

“Even if he _had_ done anything you wouldn’t be able to touch him, you’d be executed,” Amber smiles bitterly. “The King is already angry with me since I get into fights with Drake enough when we’re alone, I don’t want you getting dragged into it.”

“So he hasn’t harmed you at all?”

“No, if I’m to be honest I’m the only one who’s caused him physical pain, the most he seems to be willing to do is insult me.”

“I see,” Vi nods.

“I just...once we are married I fear he’ll desire children and that’s something I don’t want to go through, I lack an interest in children, and I especially,” she grimaces a little. “Lack interest in going through the process of creating a child with Drake.”

Vi nods once more. “Understandable.”

“And er...the big reason I came down here was to mentally prepare myself, remember?” Amber suddenly adds, making Vi nod for the third time. “I...he’s coming here for dinner tonight, I’m obviously expected to be there and I’ll have to see him and...I just needed to be somewhere quiet to prep myself for it.”

“Ah,” Vi sighs, shaking her head. “I assume I’ll be there with you?”

“Mhm,” Amber nods. “You don’t _have_ to, but-”

“I’ll be there,” Vi affirms. “I want to see this boy myself, perhaps I’ll see just how punchable his face is.”

“It is extremely punchable,” Amber confirms, smiling a tiny bit. “You’re too kind, really, though.”

“I’m simply serving my duty as your protector,” Vi smiles back. “I’ve met my fair share of horrible boys and men, another won’t be any different,” she says, a bit grimly as she frowns and looks down at her reflection in the creek. “And besides, I assume it would make you more comfortable if I were there, yes?”

“It would,” Amber admits. “...thank you, Vi.”

“Of course, Amber,” Vi responds, an earnest smile on her lips. She’s not used to smiling this much, hadn’t done it genuinely much since she had arrived here a while ago. But Vi doesn’t mind it.

“Uhm..” Amber smiles sheepishly and meets Vi’s gaze once more. “Could we...before we go back...dance a little more? We do have time and...I enjoyed doing it, a lot actually.”

Vi chuckles as she stands back up, regarding Amber with a playful grin as she reaches her hand toward the princess, her fingers tightening around her hand once it meets her own. “I’d be honoured to have another dance with a fair maiden such as yourself,” she answers, smirking as she leads the now lightly blushing girl into another dance around the clearing.

They dance for what feels like hours, chatting at times about anything that comes to mind, and as the sun begins to set they stop to leave, as Amber had to get ready to go eat, as did Vi.

Upon exiting the forest and heading back toward the stables, Vi’s eye suddenly widens, realising that, during that entire time in the clearing, they had been _alone_. Nobody would’ve seen them at all, and Vi could have easily grabbed the princess and run. Her mission would have ended sooner than expected.

But, as Vi gazes down at Amber as the girl heads into the castle, a small spring to her step as she holds the door open for Vi with a surprisingly gentle smile for the same girl who only spoke in scowls and frowns the day they first met, she realises she’s not so sure she’d even want to anymore.


	6. V - The Dinner

They separate to go get ready to eat before reuniting at the door to Amber’s room. Vi’s wearing very light armour, enough to protect her from a light sword swipe, and her hair is tied back, an eyepatch covering her missing eye.

Amber opens the door after Vi knocks and exits her room quickly, taking a slow breath as she eyed the knight before her. Vi nods in greeting, eyeing the shorter girl. Amber was wearing a rather formal -looking shoulderless blue-and-white gown, her hair tied back. She doesn’t look too pleased with the formal attire but she doesn’t complain, and she gives Vi a nod back.

“You look nice,” she eventually says, and Vi smiles as Amber exchanges a grin toward her. “We both look too nice for this, in my fair opinion,” she begins to walk down the hall, Vi by her side as she speaks. “He doesn’t deserve to lay his eyes on such nice looking things such as us.”

Vi chuckles. “It’s too bad for him neither of us are interested in him, looking at you must drive him mad,” she responds, smirking as Amber swats her upper arm gently.

“Now, you stop with your flattering words, you’ll start rumours if one overhears you complimenting me in such a manner,” she says, though Vi could tell Amber was only teasing.

“Ah, wouldn’t be the worst rumour one might overhear, though, would it?” she responds cockily. “Besides, folk like the these are as blind as a bat, they’ll just assume we’re close. If they catch you complimenting me back perhaps they’ll assume I’m your favourite.”

Amber sputters a little as she regards Vi. “The rumours surrounding a royal’s favourite are ones of beds and affairs,” she says pointedly, eyes wide as attempts to regain her composure. “Surely you jest?”

“Perhaps I may, perhaps I do not.”

That makes Amber wring her hands together, her face growing red. “As much as you might not you shan’t say that aloud. If someone of the King’s side of the court overhears I fear you acquiring a knife in your throat as you sleep.”

Vi snorts at that. “No man nor woman nor anything in between or beyond will be able to if they even try, if any assassin wants to try it then let them, I’ll simply return the knife to the throat it belongs to.”

Despite the dark subject, Amber smiles a little. “Admittedly, I wouldn’t be against that, however, for now, you will keep _any_ discussions of favourites between you and I only, I may lack much shame, but I’m not so foolish enough to acknowledge that some people do not take jests the way they should be received.”

An amused sigh leaves Vi’s lips, but she nods regardless. “As you wish, Princess.”

Upon reaching the dining hall, Amber enters first, followed by Vi. She notices the King and Queen first, sitting at the head of the table together, however, the table otherwise is empty outside of one boy sitting in the middle.

_‘I assume he’s sitting far from the King and Queen so he and Amber can fight without being overheard, cheeky bastard.’_

Drake sits with a haughty posture, wearing a grey coat with shining golden buttons. He has short and cleanly cut blonde hair and dark brown eyes that gaze judgingly at Vi as he spots her, his pale lips curled into a scowl. Vi curls her lip back, mainly because she thinks his attitude is just as ugly as he looked.

“I wasn’t aware you acquired a new guard,” Drake starts, turning to glance at Amber as she takes a seat across from him. She doesn’t curtsy in greeting, Vi notices, and she notices Joseph furrow his brows because of it. 

“Yes, well, I ran poor old Reginald ragged so he finally decided to retire, I like to think I assisted him in finally realising it was his time, I expect his wife to thank me via letter come this next month,” Amber responds, sarcasm lacing her words like poison. 

Vi stands beside Amber, glaring sharp daggers into Drake before she begins to back off to stand by one of the pillars like guards were supposed to, however she’s stopped when Amber suddenly raises her hand to grab Vi’s own.

“Your Highness?” Vi murmurs, having to resort to the title when around characters like the King. She knew the Queen likely wouldn’t mind but she wasn’t about to risk it.

“Sit beside me.”

Vi swallows slowly. She wanted to, but she wondered internally how the King might react. 

“Are you quite su-“

“What are you, a child?” Drake snorts cruelly, his eyes glittering with malice. “You need your guard to sit beside you as if I’m going to throw myself across the table? And do what, take you here and-“

Vi decides to sit at the table _just_ so she can glare at Drake the entire time, King be damned. She pulls out a chair and sits beside Amber despite the looks the King and Queen sent her. Though, she notices that while Joseph is scowling, Lorelei has what Vi can tell is a small smirk on her face, and she nods just slightly in approval.

The cooks bring out the food, and Drake finally keeps his mouth shut for a bit while they eat.

Vi doesn’t let it be known externally, not here, at least, but she relished being able to eat here. The guards were served decent food, much better than expected, but it didn’t compare to the food royals were given. There was salmon and chicken and plenty of other meat and vegetable-based foods, and Vi sends a small smile toward Amber when she smaller girl meets her eye, reminding herself to thank her later on.

Drake eyes Vi with a calculating look in his eyes the entire time they eat as if trying to unearth a hidden meaning behind her, and for a moment Vi wishes she could call him out on it, but she holds her tongue for now.

However, it seemed Amber had shared her desire. “Stare much longer at my guard, Drake, and some might assume you find her more desirable a wife than I,” she says, and Vi can’t help but admire how absolutely scathing Amber’s voice sounds when talking to Drake. She didn’t think she’d ever heard such a clearly annoyed voice in her life.

Drake snaps his gaze back to Amber. “I’d rather marry a _horse_ than either of you,” he grunts. “At least you look good, a shame your personality is so rotten, but I’d never even consider going near your scarred up brute of a guard even when drunk off my arse.”

To her surprise, Amber slams her knife down on the table with a harsh clang, her icy gaze boring into Drake’s. “Insult her again and I’ll _give you_ a scar to whine about.”

Drake opens his mouth to retort, though stops when Joseph clears his throat, his sharp hazel gaze boring into Amber as he does. “Amber.”

The tone of his voice is a warning, and Vi swallows down a growl as she eyes the king, turning to look at Amber, who looks frustrated and downright pissed, as if she might leap across the table and plunge her knife into Drake’s chest at any moment.

Biting her lip to bite back any other scathing remark, Vi leans down until she can whisper into Amber’s ear. 

“If your stepfather weren’t right there I would strangle him and leave him out for the wolves,” she growls softly into the princess’ ear, making Amber smirk as she eyes Drake, who furrows his brows in suspicion.

“What’re you two whispering about? You shan’t keep secrets from me, Amber!”

Amber looks Vi in the eye and Vi furrows her brows as she mouths “I apologise in advance,” before the princess turns to face Drake with one of the cockiest smirks Vi’s ever seen on the girl, something that looked incredibly out of character.

“Oh, nothing major, just discussing our…” she smirks slyly, and Vi’s eye narrows now. “Activities for later tonight. Vi and I just can’t...ever rest when around each other, you know.”

Vi’s jaw drops just as Drake’s does, and she loathes that they both did something at once but she couldn’t help it. She turns to look at Amber, wondering if she had drunk too much ale tonight, they were drinking it after all, flummoxed and unable to respond to how blunt that comment was.

Once getting a good look at Amber’s face, Vi realises that this wasn’t in character for Amber to do at all either, as the girl’s face was a dark shade of pink as if shocked herself at what she’d managed to say.

Drake’s shocked expression grows sour, his gaze boring into Amber’s own as his lips curl into a scowl. “I don’t find your jests funny,” he sneers. “I am not so stupid to believe you’d risk someone’s life for an affair, you’re too…” he chuckles dryly. “Soft for that.”

Amber snorts. “Certainly softer than the culmination of pure rage toward me growing in your trous-”

Vi’s hand jolts to her side to the dagger she keeps in a pouch on her belt when Drake jumps to his feet in rage before Amber can finish her sentence. She stays where she’s sitting but flashes a warning look at Drake, and even the angered prince isn’t foolish enough to not notice the look Vi was giving him along with the positioning of her arms, and he growls lowly.

“You best hold your tongue else I’ll go home and start a war _none_ of you want,” he warns, eyes narrowed. “All I have to say is that I was attacked and treated harshly, my father will do ANYTHING I wan-”

“Aww,” Vi says before she could stop herself. “The poor little whelp has to go cry to his daddy, you really are pathetic,” she smirks, and as Drake’s gaze snaps onto her tone grows cockier, not afraid of the boy in the slightest. “Give me a break, it’s no wonder Amber latches onto me as much as she does,” she continues, giving a knowing look toward Amber, who grins slightly once she realises that Vi’s using the comment that started this as fuel. “Probably because she desires someone with a little more _backbone_ ,” and, with a cruel sneer, she impulsively adds; “and a little more reach,” before sticking her tongue out at the prince for emphasis. 

Now it’s Amber’s turn for her jaw to drop, and Vi’s smirk only grows at how red the princess’ face becomes. But she grows even giddier as Drake’s face grows red too, only with a much more violent emotion than what Amber was likely feeling. 

Clenching his fists, Drake turns to face the king and queen with a growl. “Control your daughter or our betrothal along with the deal that comes with it is off!” he snarls. “I’m retiring back to my quarters, I want nothing more to do with either of you tonight,” he adds with a venomous glare toward Vi before he begins to leave, turning his head to glare at Amber as he goes. “Perhaps consider paying more attention to your etiquette classes next time, perhaps it’ll you less likely to get slapped when you get married,” he finishes before leaving the dining room with a slam of the door behind him.

The last comment has Vi absolutely fuming, the smirk having been wiped from her face. “Just try it, asshole,” she hisses under her breath, feeling Amber press her hand to her upper arm gently.

“Let him go,” she murmurs softly. “He’s all talk, Drake’s too cowardly to do anything big, he might try to start it but it’ll end with him running like a hound with its tail betwixt its legs. 

Vi huffs, though her gaze immediately turns toward the king as his throat is suddenly cleared audibly, her expression not changing, though she hides it as to not enact suspicion from the man at the head of the table. _‘Last thing I need is him trying to spy on me or lashing me for glaring at him’_ she thinks bitterly.

“How many times do I have to tell you,” Joseph begins, his glare making Amber’s shoulders tense. “To not be _yourself_ around your betrothed?!” 

“I-” Amber loses any amount of strength she had had earlier, and Vi, in dread, watches her revert back to the nervous girl she saw venting to her in the clearing. “I don’t _want_ to be nice to him because I do not like him! He’s a prick!”

Okay, perhaps not _all_ the strength she had earlier.

Joseph slaps his palm harshly on the table and Vi grimaces as Amber flinches, the last shred of fight in her dying like a flame without fuel. “You shall NOT use that language in front of me or about your betrothed, it is both unladylike and vile and I will not allow it, if I hear it again I will come over there and make you-”

“That’s _enough_ , Joseph!” Lorelei’s voice suddenly cuts through the air, and Vi notices that she had stood up as well, her sharp blue eyes glaring sharply at the man beside her. “I’m just about tired of you threatening our daughter when that boy harasses her every time you have him down he-”

“Vi, escort Amber back to her room, she shall remain there for tomorrow as well, if she wants to act like vermin she can live like one and see how she likes being imprisoned in her room for a day,” Joseph growls. When Amber starts to stand slowly, Vi following, likely too slow for the king’s liking, he yells; “NOW!”  
Amber starts a little before turning on her heels and quickly walking out of the dining hall, her fists clenched as Vi follows her worriedly, a frown on her lips. She wishes she could turn and glare again at the king but she knows it’s a risk she couldn’t take right now as well, and she shuts the door harshly as she leaves, hearing, almost immediately as she begins to follow Amber, yells seeping through the wooden door.

Amber had gotten a fair distance away already, and as Vi catches up and reaches for her shoulder she pauses, remembering the reaction she had gotten from doing that prior in the garden. She instead takes a deep breath, her frown growing when she hears a sniffle leave the smaller girl, who was only in front of her by inches now.

“Amber?” she calls softly, freezing when Amber suddenly turns around sharply. She assumes Amber hadn’t been paying attention and had thought Vi was someone else, as the glare she sends up at her startles Vi for a moment with how deathly it is. As soon as Amber realises it’s just her, however, it softens, and Vi notices the tear tracks on the smaller girl’s face.

“I-” Amber starts, her voice already beginning to waver. “It’s-”

“Shhh,” Vi murmurs, moving closer and placing her hand against one of Amber’s cheeks, brushing tears from her face with her fingers. “Don’t hide your tears, let them out, it’s alright,” she adds, though a part of her regrets saying it as Amber’s face screws up a little as she allows herself to cry a little more. “There, there, that’s it, no more fake smiles, now you cry, you cry as much as you need to, okay?”

Amber sniffles more and internally Vi wonders how long she’d been keeping a breakdown like this in her, her brows furrowing. 

_‘This entire day has been hell for her outside of when we were in the clearing...not only that but lord knows how long she’s been forcing herself to appear cheerful when she’s really been stuck around people like this…’_

“I’m sorry, I just-”

“No, do _not_ apologise to me, do not apologise to anyone,” Vi stops Amber from speaking another word, a serious look to her eye as she regards the princess. “Your stepfather is a fucking _cunt_ , Amber, and so is Drake, this is their faults,” she adds. “And it’s your mother’s, and don’t you _dare_ tell me it isn’t, for letting this happen, she may not want you to marry Drake, and she might not like your stepfather but she isn’t doing jack _shit_ to try and fix that. This is her fucking kingdom, she could throw Joseph out anytime she wants, don’t tell me she needs him for financial reasons anymore, this kingdom is _rich_ but your mother is afraid if she loses him it’ll all plummet again when it _won’t_.”

She expects Amber to snap at her or to scream at her for attacking her mother like she did, but Vi’s even more surprised when Amber nods to everything she had said, and it hits her hard like a carriage had struck her. _‘She knows.’_

“You…” she starts, “you know all of this?”

Vi doesn’t like the bitter laugh that leaves Amber’s lips at that, her eyes brimming with more tears.

“Of _course_ I know! I see it in my mother’s eyes, she knows she could kick him out with the flick of her wrist and end all of this but she refuses because she has no idea how well off this kingdom actually is,” Amber cries, “she _assumes_ that Joseph is the only thing keeping the economy up when all he did was give us a little push using his own money and by having the court help keep it stable. We’d be _fine_ without him, but I can’t make her believe that! So I’m stuck, Vi, doomed to be forced into an unhappy marriage, and doomed to never be listened to ever.”

Vi forces her hands not to shake in rage as she moves the one by Amber’s face back to her side. “No,” she shakes her head after a long moment. “No, fuck that, you’re not going to- I won’t let you,” she decides, shaking her head again. “I’ll kill hi-”

“ _No!_ ” Amber wails. “You can’t! You’ll get executed Vi you _can’t!_ ”

“What’s stopping me? It’s easy to get away with murder as long as I don’t leave anything linked to me there and get out fast, Amber, I’ve killed before, let me-” she pauses, her lips pulling into a fine line.

Amber doesn’t show any sign of concern to that, and Vi has to remind herself that she’s a _knight_ , her having a past where she’s killed isn’t a concern. Vi also realises that Amber is crying more now, and a part of her wonders why, if the stress was causing it, or if the desperation was causing more tears to fall. “You will not kill either of them unless it’s for self-defence or unless I or my mother tell you to, Vi, that’s an _order!_ ”

Vi halts in her movements, eye wide as she glances down at Amber. She knew for a fact now that Amber hated ordering others around, she could tell, it looked like saying it, in general, had been a strenuous task alone. Everything in her wants to disobey, to sprint off and find Drake and rip his throat open with her dagger and make him pay for everything he said and caused, and a part of her sees no reason not to. She already failed, she couldn’t follow orders given to her by her own _mother_ , if she could, she wouldn’t be trying to help Amber, she’d be telling her to stop crying like a baby before stalking back to her chambers, or she’d be doing this only to make the princess believe she wanted the best for her.

But the problem was, Amber wasn’t crying out of fear anymore, not for herself, Vi could tell. The look in Amber’s eyes as she regarded her, the fact that Amber had grabbed one of her hands when Vi had clenched her fists stating she’d kill one of them as if trying to stop her from moving already, the desperate tone in Amber’s voice. She was worried about _Vi’s_ safety, not her own. And Vi didn’t know how she felt about that. 

On one hand, it felt nice, knowing she cared, it truly did, but she knew that allowing herself to feel that broke orders, not that she hadn’t broken them already, the idea of killing her harming the princess making her hands shake. On another hand, Vi knew she could handle herself, she had before, she’d been at the hands of worse men before, she knew how to survive, which spots to avoid being hit at, which spots to aim for, and she didn’t want Amber to suffer either, after only a few days of knowing her she was tired of watching this girl pretend she was okay when the people in her own home were either brainwashed to think this was okay or were too scared to do something.

In truth, Vi guessed, despite how much certain people back home would scrutinise or yell at her for it, she had grown to care for this princess, she liked being around her, found her interesting and at times, funny. She’d grown to see Amber as a friend in only a day, almost two now if Vi could tell the time right. Seeing her distraught hurt Vi a little, she didn’t like it and wanted to figure out how to help but if Amber didn’t think she’d be safe, if Amber didn’t want her to out of fear of her risking her life, she wasn’t sure she should.

At least, not yet.

Her movements relax, and, taking a shaky breath, Vi looks down into Amber’s eyes.

“As you wish.”

The small, broken smile on Amber’s face somehow manages to make Vi feel a little better. “We can figure something out,” she whispers, shocking Vi for a moment. “But not tonight.”

Vi nods, relieved that Amber seemed to at least want to stop this. “Of course,” she agrees, and when Amber pulls her hand a little to get her moving again, toward the princess’ chambers, Vi slowly follows, frowning a tiny bit when Amber lets her hand go after some time.

To try and lighten the mood, Vi glances toward Amber with a small smile on her face. “Not to bring him up again, but...I didn’t think you had it in you, you know, to say some of the things you said to him.”

Amber glances at Vi and she’s relieved to see that there are no more tears falling from her now red, puffy eyes, and she smiles a little more when a tired smile appears on Amber’s lips. “Neither did I, honestly. I’m used to insulting him, but with you there I just...felt more confident,” she shrugs. “Oh, uh, and...I apologise for using you to imply we uh…” Vi bites back a chuckle when she notices Amber’s face darken. “You know…”

“It harms me none, honestly, if any of the staff heard you I’d say it rather boosts my ego, gossip travels fast, you know,” Vi responds, shrugging as an amused look appears on her face. “I fear you might _have_ to start referring to me as your favourite.”

If Amber had been sobbing her eyes out and breaking down after the dinner earlier, none would be able to tell unless they looked at Amber’s eyes as she bites her lip. “I despise the idea of favourites,” she admits after some time. “It’s not fair to put my staff higher than the others, they all work so hard for me, for my family...you know?” she smiles bashfully. “But..if I were to...If I ever do have a favourite...I think it’d be you, Vi.”

Vi, for the first time this entire time she’s been here, feels her face heat up at that, eye widening. “Oh? Well...interesting, I thought you said that a favourite was filled with rumours of beds and affairs? What does that say about us? Another boost to my ego, perhaps?”

“As if you need any more boosts,” Amber giggles, the sound making Vi even happier. “But if we do get rumours...they’re only rumours, it’s not like we’re actually having an affair,” she giggles again, a melodic, almost bashful noise.

“Shame,” Vi says without thinking, letting the flirtatious side of her take over before she could stop it, she blames the ale. “I’d like to prove Drake that I was right about the comment I made after your own,” she adds, before shutting her mouth with a snap. _‘Fuck, that wasn’t- I mean, I’m not really lying, she’s pretty, but-’_

Amber looks to the side as Vi expected, and she knows the girl is blushing, likely biting her lip too if Vi managed to remember her mannerisms when flustered already. “All Drake has ever told me is that a pretty girl like me deserves to be deflowered by a man such as him,” she murmurs, and Vi immediately gags in disgust at that. “I’m sure you would be able to prove him wrong blindfolded.”

Vi chuckles and notices Amber’s door up ahead. “Well, he won’t get the chance to do that, not on my watch,” she affirms. Amber reaches the door first and turns, smiling earnestly up at Vi.

“I trust that you’ll make sure of that,” she whispers, frowning as she glances at the door. “I’m..afraid I’ll be stuck in here tomorrow, it’s happened before, the staff won’t come in except to bring meals, I’m sorry we won’t be able to go out and go to the clearing or other places though.”

Vi shakes her head. “It’s fine, we’ll have days where we can’t do much outside or inside, take your....punishment as a day off of sorts, imprisoning you in a room with a bath and a comfortable bed along with a window I’d assume really isn’t the best punishment anyways, your stepfather is rather dim, isn’t he?”

Amber laughs. “I’d say so,” she nods before a yawn breaches her lips. She sighs softly. “I should go sleep, it’d be best if I wasn’t cranky tomorrow,” she says as she rolls her eyes in amusement.

Vi snickers at that. “I’d prefer you not, yes, but I shall see you in the morning,” she responds. “Goodnight, Am-”

“Wait!” Amber interrupts suddenly, as if just remembering something. Vi turns, having been about to walk away, and when she looks down at Amber the smaller girl furrows her brows and leans upward, grabbing the collar of Vi’s armour and pulling her down a little. Vi starts a little but allows Amber to go through with what she’s doing, gasping a little as Amber suddenly tilts her head to the side, nudging Vi’s head a little toward the right so she could reach up and press her lips gently to the knight’s cheek. It’s a chaste brush of lips more than anything else, but Vi gets the message. It’s not affection, it’s a thank you.

As if to confirm her thoughts, Amber lets Vi go and moves back with a bashful smile. “There, a thank you for my knight in shining armour,” she says with a slight teasing tone to her words. “You...deserved it after tonight.”

Vi’s face is warm, she knows it is, and she feels the goofiest smile begin to grow on her face but she forces it to stop at a lopsided grin. “Anytime, my lady,” she responds in a similar tone, trying to swallow down how giddy she felt. _‘It was just a kiss on the cheek, Vi, calm the fuck down!’_

“But...goodnight, Vi, I’ll see you when I usually do,” Amber waves a little, tiredly, and enters her room, shutting her door slowly, giving Vi just enough time to blurt a “Goodnight, Amber” back before she turns and heads toward the barracks with a giddy grin.

\--------------------------------------------------

As Vi nears the barracks, her giddy attitude finally dies down, mainly because she doesn’t want to look like a child who just got a sweet around any lingering folk in the commons of the barracks. 

She nears the door when she feels like something bad is about to happen. It’s a lingering feeling in her gut, and her eye begins to dart around a bit as if seeing things in the shadows. It makes her hands grow sweaty, and her hand rests on the shaft of her dagger before she suddenly hears footsteps and whirls around.

She barely dodges the swipe of a blade aiming at her face.

The back of Vi’s head hits the door and she curses, shaking her head to regain focus as she wheezes, eye wide. Her gaze fixates as she spots a form in the night, and she unsheathes her dagger within seconds, meeting another dagger in a sharp screech of blades. Vi seems to be stronger physically than her opponent, however, and she’s easily able to shove them back. They wobble, and Vi rushes forward, grabbing the attacker by their collar and whirling around, shoving them against the stone wall of the barracks so their face can be seen in the torchlight.

It only takes Vi seconds to recognise the blonde hair, scowl, and brown eyes, and her eye blazes in rage. 

“ _You,_ ” she hisses, pushing harder against the wall. It causes him to wheeze, coughing harshly as he drops the dagger to the ground. 

Drake meets Vi’s gaze with pure vitriol. “You’re lucky I missed,” he growls, hacking when Vi’s grip on his collar pushes harder into his throat.

Vi’s hold on her dagger shakes as she tries to control her anger. “Nobody aims for my fucking face and lives,” she growls, everything in her wanting to rip Drake open to be found by wolves and crows, but she knows she can’t.

Amber told her she could kill if it were in self-defence, she knows that, though. But she also knows that she couldn’t kill Drake here, not where people could see it. All King Joseph had to do was act as if she hadn’t acted in self-defence and it would be all over for her, she’d be hung or would lose her head. It makes Vi want to scream, but she knows, for now, making Drake at least fear her would be better.

As Drake tries to speak again, Vi moves away from the wall only to shove him back against it, making Drake’s skull crack against the stone with a dull noise, causing Drake to yell out in agony. Her blade twitches as she adjusts it before she swipes quickly, ripping a cut into the prince’s face, but before Drake can scream Vi slaps a hand over his mouth, leaning close.

“Touch me again and I’ll fucking kill you,” Vi spits, “and if I so much as hear _whispers_ of you touching or harming Amber in any way after this I will hunt you down and rip you apart limb from _limb_ , you got that?”

Instead of a nod, Drake narrows his eyes and Vi hears a muffled. “She’s mine,” leaving his lips, which makes something in Vi flare up like a blaze of fire, and her fist presses further into the boy’s throat, making him hack more.

“She doesn’t _want_ you,” she continues, eye blazing with pure hatred. She hadn’t been this angry since a year ago, and the thought of Drake alone being similar to any person in her past made her want to plunge the dagger in her hand into his throat and run. She could grab Amber and they could leave this godforsaken place before anyone found out. Her home wouldn’t be safe for her, but they could find somewhere else. Somewhere safe, without men who only seek to hurt and take from people what isn’t theirs to begin with.

A guttural, broken sound almost akin to a sob leaves Vi’s throat, knowing she has to stay, she can’t do anything about this, but she knows for a fact that as long as she doesn’t kill him she won’t be executed, and she punches Drake hard in the nose, throws him to the ground, and, throwing her knife to the side, descends on him with a flurry of punches and kicks, anything to make him regret ever trying to attack her, likely try to blind her, with his aim for her face. When Vi lets him go, he limps into the castle and doesn’t look back.

She’s called by one of the King’s personal servants early in the morning before the sun rises, a certain royal having squealed to his advisor that a knight attacked him, and she knows it’s going to hurt, whatever she receives, but she knows it won’t be death, and as long as she’s made her point any crack of a whip or beating she gets would be worth it.


	7. VI - The Bedroom

Amber hates being stuck in her room. Despite how nice the room was, she loathes it.

Her breakfast had already been delivered to her, nothing special, fruit and bread were all it was, and now all Amber was doing was pacing to try and satiate the boredom growing inside her.

She had supplies to draw with, books to read, a chessboard on her shelf if she really was so bored as to play a game by herself, but nothing interested Amber at the moment. She was either too deep within her own mind or waiting for Vi to arrive at her door.

Vi’s determination to off Drake and even perhaps her father last night had surprised Amber. She hadn’t met someone like that since Meredith, and with a pang, Amber realises she hadn’t seen the girl or Skylar since the week prior, she’d have to visit soon. Regardless, though, it had intrigued Amber as well, and though a bit of her wished she had told Vi to go ahead most of her knew it’d be a horrible idea that would only end with the only friend she had in this castle having her head lopped off in front of her, something that made Amber’s stomach lurch a little, and she swallows bile that rises in her throat at the thought.

As much as Amber wanted Drake gone along with her stepfather, putting Vi’s life at risk wasn’t something she wanted either. She wrings her hands together, biting her lip from nerves.

_‘If I could leave with her I would, but I also...don’t want to leave my mother to suffer with this alone, nor do I necessarily want to leave my friends down in the town either’_ she thinks with a soft sigh. _‘Vi’s right, mother needs to realise that she’d be fine without him, but I feel as if I might have to help persuade her with that. If I could only get my hands on financial records to prove it I would…’_

She’s interrupted by a sharp knock on her door, and even though she doesn’t know who it might be Amber has a feeling she knows, and it makes her smile involuntarily, much to her embarrassment. 

Yes, she’ll admit, the knight had managed to weasel her way into a soft spot of her heart, and with a huff, Amber admits that _sometimes_ she gets really giddy when thinking about Vi. Just a little bit, though.

Amber heads over to the door and opens it slowly just in case it wasn’t Vi after all, though her expectations are met, spotting the taller girl as she predicted standing behind the door, her light blue eye meeting Amber’s own as a small, tired smile appears on her face.

“Hey, princess,” Vi greets, and Amber can’t help but grin back. She had always liked it when Vi called her ‘princess’, oddly enough, even though it was simply her title. She assumes it might just be the way she says it, Amber swears that Vi’s voice sounds almost sultry when she says it, and it makes heat rise to her face as she thinks about it.

“Hey,” Amber murmurs, opening the door wider as she eyes the girl before her.

“How has your...imprisonment been?” the knight asks with a surprisingly soft smile. Something feels...off about how Vi is holding herself, but Amber dismisses it as nerves since last night she’d been a bit more on edge than usual.

“Boring,” she answers with a sigh, rolling her eyes. “I’ve spent all my time waiting for you, which...reminds me,” Amber frowns slightly. “You’re...two hours later than when you usually arrive, it’s...noon now, did you oversleep? You’re not feeling ill, are you?”

Amber doesn’t notice Vi tense a little, the taller girl smiling awkwardly. “Actually I...I’m not sick I just...went to the town really fast to grab,” she sticks her hand into a pouch Amber just now notices is attached to her belt. “These. Thought we could share them since you’re...kind of stuck in here,” she finishes, pulling out two apples. “Next month they won’t be in season since it’ll be winter, so I thought grabbing them now would be nice.”

Amber blinks, and a warm smile appears on her face at the gift. “I...thank you…” she murmurs, before moving aside. “Here, come in here, we can chat a bit better without people overhearing in here and...I don’t know about you, but I’m not in the mood to talk through a door.”

Vi seems a bit hesitant. “Am I allowed...to come in here when you’re being punished like this?” the hesitance confuses Amber, who was so used to Vi being willing to bypass rules, especially minor ones like this.

“As far as I know you’re allowed in here anytime you wish, and nobody comes in here when I’m punished like this, they won’t even know you’re here,” Amber murmurs, reaching her hand out. She’s startled a little at how fast Vi grabs it and doesn’t like how sweaty the knight’s hands are. 

Something was wrong. Amber knew something was wrong, she could feel it in the air, the tension between them both, like an overhanging cloud. What it was that was wrong, Amber had no idea, but she was going to find out. And the fact that Amber felt like her stepfather had something to do with it made her blood turn to ice as she forces a smile up at Vi, leading the taller girl into her room. Vi shuts the door as she enters using her foot.

Moving back to examine her, Amber notices that Vi is wearing the light armour she wore last night, the extremely light set. She’s not carrying her sword with her, but Amber assumes that Vi has her dagger on her at the very least.

“Here,” Vi starts, handing one of the apples to Amber as she looks around the room. Curiosity glimmers in her gaze as she tentatively moves around the room to examine some of Amber’s belongings as Amber goes to sit down on her bed, taking a bite of the crisp red-and-yellow fruit. It tastes deliciously sweet, and Amber smiles as she swallows the first bite.

“You like art?” Vi suddenly says from a few feet away, having spotted the set of charcoal and paints on one of her shelves. 

“Oh, yes, I do,” Amber nods, smiling bashfully and a little modestly as Vi analyses some of the parchment Amber had drawn on set next to the supplies, tilting her head a little.

“You’re talented,” she remarks, turning to look at Amber with a small smile.

“I wouldn’t say extremely, but I...do enjoy dabbling in it in my spare time,” Amber shrugs, mentally chastising herself for acting so bashful. “Everyone has their hobbies.”

Vi chuckles at that, Amber finding herself relieved that she did, still worried about the knight, knowing something might’ve happened that she wasn’t telling her. “Indeed, you know mine.”

“Ah, yes, I nearly forgot, you are quite the dancer,” Amber finds herself grinning at that. “Perhaps someday I should take you to our ballroom so you’d have more space, or...we could always go to the clearing again, I quite liked dancing with you, much more than I have any other person. And I’ve...always been rusty regarding dancing, perhaps you could teach me a few things.”

Vi smirks a little, moving toward Amber after she sets down the piece of parchment she had been looking at down. “If you can teach me how to draw or sing, then we can arrange that. Though...” Vi looks a little toward the side. “I wouldn’t mind teaching you just for fun either. Gives me more things to do with you.”

Amber’s face grows warm at that, and she bites her lip as she looks down at her hands for a moment. “I could...teach you how to play piano, if you’d like, as an exchange,” she offers. “I know how to play, my father taught me some before he passed and I learned more from tutors before my…” she frowns, sighing softly. “Classes were cancelled by the king because they clashed with...etiquette courses,” she huffs.

The mention of the king makes Vi visibly tense and Amber narrows her eyes in suspicion at that, especially when Vi’s face contorts into a look of absolute rage at one point before calming back down. She knew Vi didn’t like her stepfather but she had never seen that amount of rage on Vi’s face before. 

_‘I have to find out what happened after I went to sleep last night, something involving my stepfather, that’s for sure.’_

“Vi,” Amber starts, her expression turning serious as she regards the knight with narrowed eyes. “Look at me.”

Vi seems to realise Amber caught her expression and had noticed her tense, and she slowly meets Amber’s gaze, and Amber _hates_ how pained Vi’s expression looks for a second before it reverts back to a nervous smile.

Amber gets to her feet, slowly moving toward Vi, her brows furrowing. “Tell me what happened last night.”

“We said goodnight after you verbally slaughtered your betrothed and I comforted you after your cunt of a stepfather yelled at you for rightfully defending yourself and I,” Vi states, as if obvious.

“Vi,” Amber says, more seriously this time. “You know exactly what I meant, what happened after I went to bed?”

“I went to sleep,” Vi says, and it terrifies Amber how obvious that lie was.

“No,” Amber shakes her head, and Vi starts as she reaches one of her hands to cup her jaw and force Vi to look down at her. “No you didn’t,” she whispers. “I can tell you’re lying, I’ve noticed you tensing and grimacing when you stretch your arms ever since I saw you a few minutes ago, _what happened?_ ”

“Nothing happened, I slept awkwardly and woke up sore in the shoulders, that’s all,” Vi deflects it, but Amber realises that Vi doesn’t look her in the face when she lies, she averts her gaze to the side. It’s as if lying to her hurts Vi in a way, almost.

“Stop lying to me,” Amber hisses, moving both hands to Vi’s face now to make sure she doesn’t turn her head. “Please, Vi, tell me what happened, you’re scaring me and I just want to make sure you’re alright, just tell me the truth!”

“If I tell you the truth you’re going to blame yourself,” Vi states bluntly, and for the first time ever Amber sees tears begin to well up in Vi’s eye. “You’ll find out in due time, once you see his-” she snaps her mouth shut at that, and Amber shudders, horror dawning on her as she realises what might’ve happened.

“What did Drake do to you,” she whispers, her expression panicked as Vi’s eye refuses to look at her. “What did he do?! Tell me, Vi! _Please!_ ”

“It wasn’t him,” Vi murmurs, her voice cracking.

“That’s _bullshit_ and you know it!” Amber cries, and she realises she’s beginning to tear up as she clutches onto Vi’s face. “Please, Vi, fucking tell me, or…” she breathes heavily as she speaks. “Or...or I’ll order you to tell me! _Please_ , God, don’t make me order you, Vi, I _hate_ doing it, I hate it!”

“Fine!” Vi suddenly shouts, and Amber gasps as she’s suddenly shoved back, away from Vi as the knight’s hands shake before wrapping around herself. “I was whipped for defending myself, lashed five or six times, I lost count,” she shakes, her face wet with tears as she regards Amber, her eyes wild. “Drake attacked me last night and I defended myself and then he said things about you and I lost control and I-” her legs buckle a little and Amber, despite wheezing from nerves, rushes over to tug her over to her until she can set Vi down on her bed to sit. As soon as Amber sits beside her Vi reaches and snatches her hand into her own, clenching onto it like a vice.

“I-”

“I didn’t want to say anything because I knew you’d blame yourself,” Vi continues, turning to look Amber in the eyes weakly. “I’m sorry, okay? I don’t...I don’t regret what I did to Drake, whether or not getting lashed for it was worth it is up to you but I think it was regardless of the pain,” she grimaces a little as if imagining it. “But I knew you’d either blame yourself or try to go fight him yourself and the last thing I want right now is you getting yourself hurt for my sake.”

Amber blinks, tears falling from her face at this point as her hand shakes in Vi’s grip, keeping her eyes trained on Vi’s own. “You-” she starts to stammer. “You…you,” she feels her lip wobble as she tries to find words. “You’re hurt because of him, because of m-”

“Drake’s actions don’t speak for you,” Vi interrupts, reaching over with her free hand and cupping Amber’s cheek. “Don’t say it’s because of you, Drake couldn’t control his rage and tried to blind me, aimed for my face,” she explains. “I slashed him in the face and beat him for trying and for trying to act as if you were his possession, a worthy price to pay, and when he went whining to your father he believed him over me and had me lashed for attacking a royal,” a weak smile forms on her face. “Your mother is the reason I’m here with you right now, though.”

“M-My mother?” Amber’s brows furrow, but she doesn’t try to move when Vi’s holding her cheek like she was. 

“Your mother believed my word over Drake’s when I was questioned, and she not only kept your stepfather from demoting me as your guard but also paid the man your stepdad had do the lashing behind his back so I wasn’t lashed as much as I was originally supposed to, five or six times is much better than twenty, I’d reckon,” Vi explains. “He won’t tell the king, your mother...really has a way with bribery.”

Amber shudders. “Twenty….that’s...you’d-”

“Likely would have had to resign, I’ve heard tales of people getting lashed and never being able to use their back for anything again if it goes over ten, and if it’s a bullwhip-” she shudders at the thought. “Thankfully it wasn’t for me, but...it still hurts regardless.”

“I don’t know how I feel about this,” Amber shakes her head, horrified still. The fact that Vi had gotten lashed to defend not only herself but her made Amber’s heart hammer in her chest, she didn’t want Vi risking herself for her, especially when she could end up getting herself so hurt she wouldn’t be able to be by her side anymore, or, even worse, couldn’t do anything for herself anymore.

“Did you get your wounds treated?” Amber finally says after a moment, shakily, trying to change the subject. Vi removes her hand from Amber’s face, and Amber hates how she wishes she hadn’t done that.

_‘You can’t feel like this. It’s going to get Vi hurt. That’s utterly selfish of you to even consider’_ she thinks bitterly, angrily toward her own heart.

She snaps herself out of her thoughts early enough to catch Vi murmuring, “hadn’t gotten them checked yet, though,” softly, and Amber curses in her head, having missed a part of what Vi had been saying. 

Worry fuels Amber from what she catches, though, and she gets to her feet suddenly, startling both Vi and herself. “Take off your armour, then, the last thing I want is those wounds getting infected,” she declares, turning toward Vi with a new flare of confidence running through her.

_‘I might not be able to be outward with my feelings, but I can at least...while in my room when nobody can see us...I can at least show her I care more than some might subtly.’_

Vi’s eye widens a little, and Amber’s at least happy that regardless of the rough situation that she was capable of flashing Amber one of her typical lopsided smirks. “Cute tactic of trying to get me naked, princess,” she teases, and Amber curses as her face automatically warms.

Hiding feelings might be harder than she thought.

“It’s- It’s not- I’m trying to help!” Amber fires back, biting her tongue. She knows Vi is only teasing but she couldn’t help but defend herself.

Vi bursts into laughter, a sound that makes Amber’s heart warm, a grin involuntarily blooming onto her face. The knight throws her head back when she laughs this time, unable to control herself before she slowly begins to cool down from it. “Sure, but I’ve never been the type to not show when a maiden asks,” she continues teasing as she begins to undo the straps on her armour. 

Amber sighs exasperatedly, rolling her eyes in slight amusement. “Do you want to bathe or shall I just clean your wounds with a cloth? I think a bath might be preferred, personally, purely just in-”

“Wow, not only are you having me strip in front of you, but you’re also telling me that I smell? This is really turning me off, and I thought we were having a moment,” Vi interrupts, smirking broadly as Amber groans loudly. “But jokes aside, a bath would be nice, the barracks...don’t have that luxury, most of us go bathe in the river or use water from the well.”

Amber screws her nose up at that. Bathing in the river didn’t seem too bad, it got what one would want done, but she wasn’t used to it, though showing disgust towards it immediately makes Amber feel bad. She sometimes forgot about her status over everyone else, which tended to make her feel guilty.

Though, when she becomes queen, she was going to make sure a bathhouse was installed for the knights, at the very least. But until then, she smirks a little to herself as she opens her mouth.

_‘I know I just said not to show my feelings but...I can’t help it, and I’m so angry at Drake and Joseph that...honestly? Fuck them, let them seethe if they find out about this. They can’t execute either of us when we haven’t killed anyone anyways.’_

“Well, if that’s the case, perhaps I might let you use it more often, if a river doesn’t suit your tastes,” she comments slyly as she turns to go to the room linked to her room that offered entrance to the bath. 

Amber’s grin only grows when she hears Vi sputter a bit and hears footsteps follow her after a moment. 

“You aren’t seriously offering to let me use your bath after this one time?” Vi asks after having caught up with her. Her armour is off, leaving her in a linen shirt and trousers, and Amber almost wonders why she’s so surprised to see Vi without armour until she remembers that she hadn’t seen the girl without it ever before.

“Why not?” Amber shrugs as she enters the room. Luckily, since it took long enough to fill the bath enough, Amber hadn’t had the tub drained since it had been filled yesterday, and though it wouldn’t be warm it was better than nothing. “You _are_ supposed to be my favourite, aren’t you? If anything, I should be allowing you to sleep alongside me as well.”

She grins cheekily when hearing Vi gasp a little under her breath, letting her hand run gently through the water to test it. It was room temperature, and although Amber wishes she could fill it with warm water she didn’t know how to heat it like the people who did it for her did.

“I- well-”

“I’m only teasing,” Amber smiles, turning to look at Vi. “Though...admittedly, I wouldn’t mind it, at least I’d know you’d be safer here with me.”

Vi smirks a little, seemingly having regained her composure. “That’s a cute excuse for you just wanting me in your bed, but I’ll take it.”

Amber scowls as her face heats up once again. She hates how Vi seems to easily be able to beat her at this game even when she tries to retaliate, anything Vi seems to say in a flirtatious regard always manages to make her blush, and though some of the things Amber says back do surprise Vi it doesn’t always seem to have the same effect.

“Just take off your clothes and get into the tub already,” Amber huffs. “I have to clean your back still, if we keep standing here you get closer and closer to getting your wounds infected.”

Vi sighs, turning around as Amber follows suit to go grab a cloth and some soap. She looks around the cabinets as Vi undresses to see if she can find anything to help keep the wound clean but unfortunately finds nothing after a few moments, a sigh leaving her lips as she realises she’d have to ask one of the maids tomorrow to bring her supplies.

_‘I suppose this also means I’m keeping Vi in here today and tonight. I trust her enough to keep her wounds clean but without bandages, I’d rather her stay here where she can lay down and let her wounds have some air at least.’_

When Amber turns around, Vi is undressed, covering herself with a towel from the front as she kicks her trousers off one of her legs. Amber snorts dryly.

“Modesty is the least of our concerns right now, Vi, you don’t need a towel in the bath.”

Vi snaps her attention back to Amber and a crooked smirk grows on her lips. “Oh, I’m nowhere near modest,” she chuckles lowly, raising her visible brow as her smirk turns smug. “I’m just trying to keep you level-headed,” she adds as she drops the towel.

Amber is less than amused, however, she also has eyes and it takes every scrap of strength in her to keep herself from growing visibly flustered and it takes everything in her to keep her eyes trained on Vi’s face.

“I’m as level-headed as you are,” she eventually responds, but after a moment her resistance breaks and a faint pink colour grows on her cheeks, much to Vi’s amusement as she steps into the tub and sits, her long black hair billowing out in the water a little. She rests her arms on the brim and watches Amber with interest, her smirk relaxing into a simple lazy smile.

“Sure you are, shorty,” she snorts, as Amber moves forward, pulling a stool over so she can sit beside the tub, reaching over with the cloth. Vi automatically moves back so Amber could reach her back easier, pulling her hair from her back to reveal the wounds, having it cascade over the front of her shoulders instead.

At the sight of the wounds, Amber’s throat grows dry, and tears threaten to prick at her eyes at the sight. Vi’s skin was bruised heavily alongside the angry red lash marks, to the point where the normally tawny-brown colour of the girl’s skin was hardly visible on her back. Amber assumes the first three didn’t break skin, but the last two or three did, three open wounds on Vi’s back, two crisscrossing each other. It wasn’t as bloody as Amber expected, and she assumes that the wounds had thankfully already begun to close, but her back is caked in dried blood regardless from the initial wounds, and a few parts, especially in the centre of the two crisscrossed lacerations, still bleed slightly. If she had been lashed twenty times like she was originally supposed to, Amber shudders, realising she might have been able to see bone, and silently thanks her mother for having been able to lower it.

“This doesn’t...seem like a very...princessy thing to do,” Vi comments after a while, a soft sigh leaving her lips as Amber’s hand begins to tentatively move the cloth down Vi’s back to get the dried blood off first. “Don’t get me wrong, if I’d want anyone doing this it’d be you, but I also wouldn’t...blame you for asking for someone else to, it probably doesn’t look too pretty back there, huh?”

Amber shakes her head, smiling despite the wounds making her want to vomit. “No, they’re going to scar no matter what anyone does, even if I could get a doctor in here,” she sighs. “But they could be so, so much worse, you’re very lucky you only have three open wounds.”

“My mother always told me I was luckier than I gave myself credit for,” Vi sighs softly in response. “Besides, maidens love scars, right? If I were a man, I’d be rather dashing.”

Amber giggles at that. “You’re already dashing enough, don’t go giving yourself more scars to prove that,” she smiles, though her face grows hot, realising she nearly said “You’re already dashing enough for me” before she had managed to restrain herself.

“I suppose you’re correct there, huh?” Vi snickers, wincing a little when Amber accidentally grazes one of the wounds too harshly with her cloth, causing Amber to apologise quietly. “I already have a facial scar, now I just have a back scar to compare with it, along with a few miscellaneous ones, probably.”

“I never did ask you about your missing eye,” Amber recalls, having a tendency to forget sometimes that Vi was missing an eye. Half the time she wore an eyepatch over it, Amber noticed, for formal events, and the other she just let her hair cover it. Amber just never really asked since Vi was a knight, lord knows how she could have lost her eye, perhaps fighting a rogue or some other lawbreaker with a well-aimed knife swipe or jab. But when Amber asks, Vi stiffens, going completely rigid for a moment. 

Amber immediately recoils, cursing herself for having even asked. “Sorry, shouldn’t ha-”

“No, it’s fine,” Vi butts in before she can finish. “It’s just not an...easy story to tell for me, I guess, it’s still rough for me to discuss and it’s been what, a year now? Maybe a year and a half?”

“Well,” Amber starts, finally having finished cleaned the blood off of Vi’s back now, and she moves to clean the cloth so she can start cleaning the wounds. “You don’t have to tell me, ever, if you don’t want to. I don’t mind.”

“Mm,” Vi nods a tiny bit. “It was just...a bad man, is all, someone like Drake just...more persistent, I guess? But it’s whatever, he’s dead now, I got...my revenge.”

“Ah,” Amber murmurs, blinking. “The fact that you’ve had to deal with a person worse than Drake...no wonder he pissed you off so much.”

“Mhm, men like him, who just...take things without asking, who react violently when met with opposition or not with what they want, are some of the worst types of men you can meet, in my opinion, same goes for women, of course, but I hear of more men like that than women.”

“Was this back at your old village, then?” Amber asks curiously, halfway done through cleaning the first wound. “Oh, and, if I’m asking too many questions or you can’t answer one from bad memories just let me know and I’ll stop.”

Vi grunts in acknowledgement. “It was,” she answers. “Though he wasn’t from my village, he...I don’t know where he was from, but the house I left was a two-hour walk from my village, for reference,” she explains. “It was a lone house in the woods...if he had been apart of our village my mother would have executed him brutally herself for all to see, she did it to his accomplice, after all, when I called her out after spotting her in the market.”

Amber shudders. “So if he took out your eye...you walked two hours to get home?”

Vi shakes her head. “I walked an hour before a hunter from my village spotted me and carried he home, delirious and feverish from infection,” she responds. “I’d...never seen my mother so angry.”

Amber wasn’t stupid. She knew very well by the implication of Vi’s answers what had likely happened in that house and the thought of it made her hands shake. “You don’t even need to tell me what happened, I feel like I know,” she murmurs, and Vi must have noticed how her tone darkened because she sighs and turns her head to look at Amber with a weak smile.

“You’re perceptive,” she remarks. “But you’re right, what happened in that house was...vile to put it bluntly, it broke me for a while. It took me a long time to recover and become the person talking to you now, and it’s why I attacked Drake like that. Because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to you. And the way he phrased himself...he’s not exactly like the man I encountered, but he’s similar, I guess they just all have their differences.”

Amber knows doing this might be a risk, but she’s always been the type of person to use physical actions to comfort over words around those she considered herself close to, and she sets the cloth down for a moment to lean precariously over the lip of the tub, draping her arms gently over Vi’s shoulders and around her sternum for a moment in an awkward hug. Vi stiffens but melts into it after a moment, and Amber feels her tilt her head slightly back and to the side so she can gently press her lips against Amber’s cheek, making her start a little, which makes Vi chuckle.

“I can give thank you kisses too, you know,” she whispers, smiling against Amber’s skin as she grins as well. 

Amber stays there for longer than she probably should, and she reluctantly moves back after a long moment.

“R-Right,” she stammers as a start, moving the cloth back to the last two wounds on Vi’s back. “You’re...certainly allowed to give them,” she adds after a moment, much quieter than before, though she assumes Vi catches it as the girl chuckles softly.

After she finishes cleaning each laceration as much as she can, Amber moves back, twiddling her thumbs. “Alright,” she starts, making Vi turn to look at her. “They’re cleaned as much as they can be now, but upon tomorrow I will have one of the more medically experienced maids or a doctor come to treat them properly,” she decides, smiling a little as Vi nods, not arguing with her. “You can stay in there as long as you want, I’ll-”

“Actually,” Vi interrupts, and for the first time, Amber notices a bashful looking grin appear on Vi’s face. “I would like to wash my hair but...stretching my shoulders might open my wounds or it just..agitates them, is there any chance you mi-”

“I can help you with that!” Amber says almost, no, definitely way too enthusiastically, judging by the surprised look on Vi’s face. Regardless, Amber gets up to go grab a comb from the counter nearby, coming back over to sit down as Vi speaks again.

"I don’t think I’ve ever met a princess so willing to do tasks like this for someone else, normally I’d assume they would just...ask someone else to do it for them,” she comments. “But then again, you’re the only other princess I’ve met.”

“I can’t get any servants in here right now with my punishment, and even if I could...I like doing things for myself,” Amber admits, smiling to herself. “I feel bad for making the staff do such...menial things for me, I should be able to comb my own hair, bathe myself, the like, I’m not some child meant to be coddled.”

“Such a selfless princess,” Vi comments after a moment of silence, turning around again and letting Amber pull her long hair from her shoulders. The princess fills a ladle set next to the tub with water and pours it repeatedly in the knight’s hair until it’s soaked enough for her to be able to comb through it, humming softly to herself. Vi relaxes a little more from the noises leaving Amber’s closed lips, only tensing whenever Amber found a knot in her hair.

She pauses her humming after a bit to make a comment on something she’d noticed about Vi. “Does your hair ever get in the way of fighting? It’s longer than I’m used to seeing from a female knight, most I know have their hair cut to their jawline.”

Vi shrugs. “Not really, normally I tie it up and put any that sticking out through the back of my armour or, if I’m wearing a helmet, up there,” she explains. “You might be surprised to know that nobody’s pulled it yet to try and hold me back yet, guess I’ve just been lucky.”

“You did say you were always a lucky person,” Amber remarks with a smile, noticing that it was becoming rare that she’d encounter a tangle in the knight’s hair now. “But I like it, it’s a unique part about you compared to other knights, I suppose.”

“Mm,” Vi responds, nodding. “Though I’m sure there are knights out there with long hair too, sometimes we just like taking risks to look nice, I suppose” she jokes. 

Amber snorts at that and pulls away, setting the comb on the small table beside the tub the ladle was now resting on. “Well, just make sure you keep your head attached to your shoulders for me, okay?” she teases, gently leaning forward to brush her finger along the side of Vi’s throat for emphasis, making the knight’s breath hitch. “Now, you can get out of the tub unless you just want to sit in partially bloody water,” she adds, moving back as Vi snorts and grasps the lip of the tub so she can slowly stand up. 

As Vi steps out of the tub, soaked, Amber lifts a towel off the shelf and throws it at the knight, catching her by surprise, she assumes, by the loud gasp that she catches from behind her as the towel hits Vi with a soft thump. Going over to analyse the discarded clothes Vi had left on the floor afterwards, Amber sighs heavily. Her trousers were salvageable, however, the shirt wasn’t, the back soaked in blood. She’s not surprised she doesn’t find any cloth or piece of clothing used for the knight’s chest area, she wouldn’t have tried to put anything of that sort on after getting lashed like that herself.

“You’re going to have to go without a shirt, just to let you know,” she eventually says, turning around after she picks up the shirt, deciding that she’d just throw it into the tub and hope for the best. Vi’s back is facing her as she stands, turning only slightly to catch the pair of trousers Amber has tossed over to her when asked. “Not that you weren’t anyways, you need to let those cuts have some air.”

“I doubt that will be much of a problem, hm?” Vi responds over her shoulder as she shimmies her way into her trousers, chuckling softly. “Just remember that my eye is on my f-”

“That’s enough from you,” Amber cuts in, rolling her eyes as she turns to watch Vi. The knight was, she assumed, tying the drawstring on her trousers, and as much as Amber doesn’t want to admit it she can’t help but watch the muscles on Vi’s back move a little as she moves her arms, her body shuddering a little from pain if she moved one of her shoulders wrong. Vi seems to forget that she had wounds on her back as well only moments later when she moves her arms above her head to stretch, hissing in pain as she stretches one of the cuts, and Amber thanks the lord it doesn’t open back up from the movement.

“Careful,” she reminds the knight as Vi looks over her shoulder again. “If you reopen your wounds you risk infection, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Vi laughs, turning around finally to look at Amber, smirking cockily as she crosses her arms across her chest. ”Good to know I have someone admiring my back to notice that,” she teases, her smirk growing as Amber’s face grows hot with embarrassment over being caught. “Don’t worry, I take it as a compliment,” she adds, walking over to Amber’s side. Her hand lifts up and Amber squeaks a little in surprise when the taller girl suddenly ruffles her hair playfully before walking past her into to head into the main room again. Amber turns to follow her after tossing her shirt into the tub with a small smile on her lips, cursing herself in her head.

_‘At least she’s not calling you out for staring at her front, too, she’s rather- wait, of course she’s muscular, Amber, she’s a bloody knight for Christ’s sake! Stop ogling before she starts assuming things!’_

When she enters her bedroom again, Vi is staring over at the doors leading out to the balcony in Amber’s room as if tempted to go over, and at first, Amber sees no problem with it, until she remembers that her guard was not only technically not allowed in her room right now, but she was also half naked and if anyone saw that they would both be in a load of trouble, if not at the very least laughed at.

“Don’t even think about it, that looks out into the garden and you know very well guards are stationed out there right now,” Amber says sternly, watching Vi look back at her with a mischievous smirk. “Don’t. If you get lashed again for being an idiot I’m not letting you use my bath to clean your wounds again.”

Vi huffs dramatically. “Fiiiiine,” she drawls, turning back around, though her eye leaves Amber’s face to look over toward the door as if having spotted something. Amber follows her gaze, noticing a tray with food on it on the ground.

“Ah, we must’ve been in there past lunch time,” Amber remarks, raising her brows. “I guess they left it there assuming I might be in the bath,” she adds, walking over to investigate. It was just bread and fruit again, and Amber scowls, realising that she wasn’t being served any meats or dairies as some sort of punishment.

_‘He does know that prisoners are only fed bread, right? Perhaps the maids are sneaking the fruit in, they’ve always been rather kind to me.’_ she thinks with a small smirk to herself, lifting the tray and carrying it to her bed. She glances over at Vi as she does, tilting her head as if to beckon her. “Come on, you need to rest.”

“All day?” Vi questions, frowning. “I’m not really...the stationary type, I like to move,” she says, though Amber does smile when she walks over.

“You can’t risk stretching those cuts, it’s best if you lay down, take a day off like you told me I would yesterday. It’s not like I won’t be here to comfort you,” Amber responds, patting the bed as she slowly moves onto it, laying on her side, the tray beside her stomach as Vi sighs before slowly crawling into the bed, laying on the opposite side of Amber, facing her. “Stay on your side or back, okay?”

“Roger that,” Vi murmurs, pressing her face into one of the soft pillows as she sighs softly. “Admittedly, I could get used to this, your bed is the softest I’ve rested on in a while.”

“Well,” Amber chuckles, plucking a strawberry off the bowl on her tray and pushing it toward Vi’s face. “Get comfortable, I’m not letting you leave until those wounds heal, or at very least scab over.”

Vi’s eye hones in on the berry, and she smirks. “You’re going to feed me now? By God, Amber, at this rate, we should just switch outfits and you should be the knight, with how much you’ve been doting on me today.”

“You’re injured because of my betrothed, it’s the least I can do for you,” Amber responds shortly, putting the berry up against the knight’s lips. “Now eat.”

Vi rolls her eye, unable to make much more comments now as she bites the strawberry as far as she can before it reaches the green leaves, chewing it slowly as she regards Amber, watching her put the residue onto the tray. “I feel like royalty,” she jokes with her mouth full, making Amber giggle at how slurred her voice sounded.

“In this room you might as well be,” Amber responds, winking as she goes to grab herself some fruit, pulling a few grapes off their stems before eating them herself. She pulls the bowl off the tray and between them so they can share what’s in it. Vi, however, takes this to her advantage, instead of feeding herself making Amber eat everything she picked from the bowl, which, in turn, makes Amber feed Vi anything she had grabbed until the bowl is clean.

“So,” Vi starts as Amber pushes the bowl aside, watching as Vi rolls onto her belly and rests her head on her arms, turning it so she could still look at Amber. “Is there anything else you like to do around here other than traipsing around in the woods or treating your guards like royalty? I’d assume so, correct?”

Amber giggles. “You’re the only guard I’ve treated like royalty, consider yourself lucky, Vi,” she starts, her eyes glowing with mirth, “and I...hm...I like playing the piano, as I’ve told you prior, along with drawing...I do like walking around in the town if that counts?”

Vi’s brows raise with interest, and she nods. “Oh? Well, coincidentally, I have been wanting to explore down there lately, perhaps when my back heals...you and I can go down there? If the weather permits it, I doubt either of us want to get rained on,” she offers with a shrug.

Amber grins broadly at that. “As long as you rest and let the doctor treat you tomorrow I think we can manage that before it gets so cold it starts to snow,” she jokes, smirking as Vi rolls her eye and reaches over to gently shove Amber’s shoulder.

“Hush, it’s autumn, and I’m not that stubborn,” she snorts. “I’ll rest, regardless of how much I hate being still I’d rather get better, not get worse,” she adds with a shudder at the mere idea. “You seem keen on keeping me company while I do, anyway, so it’s not like I have much to hate about it.”

“What did I say about flattery?” Amber groans softly, though she has a feeling Vi can tell that it’s not truly an aggravated groan, it was really a dramatic one, as the knight’s smile turns into an amused smirk. 

“You called me your favourite last night, I get to flatter you, that’s how it works.”

“I said if I believed in favourites that I’d call you one! That’s not the same!” Amber argues, though internally she knows she’s lost this argument, and Vi proves that only moments later.

“Exactly, so you consider me your favourite, and considering you’re perfectly comfortable with me laying topless in your bed and were willing to clean my wounds and hair, I’d be fair to assume you don’t view me as you view the other staff in this kingdom,” Vi says, a cocky tone and smirk to her as she wiggles her brows at Amber. “Not saying you’d be willing to go any further than we are right now with me...though with the way you were eyeing me earlier….”

Amber’s face turns a bright shade of crimson and she immediately interrupts Vi before she can say anything else. “Nothing is going to happen while your back is injured!”

“Oh? So you’re saying after I heal-”

Amber groans loudly. “You’re insufferable!”

“But you looooove ittttt~”

“I do not.”

Vi sticks her tongue out playfully. “You do.”

Amber smirks at that. “Fine, I love it so much, that it inspires me to do…” her smirk grows devilish, and Vi’s brows furrow. “This!” she finishes, having grabbed what she was looking for behind her and swinging forward. The pillow she had grabbed in her hand makes contact with Vi’s face, and the knight sputters in shock, grabbing it and immediately lunging upward, and Amber thanks God she was being careful about not straining her shoulders, but she curses loudly as Vi’s lunge causes her to press the pillow right onto her face, though the knight moves her hands away from it fast enough so that Amber can pull it from her face, opening her mouth to voice her annoyance from the blow when she notices Vi above her, smirking broadly and giggling like a child that had managed to scare one of their parents. She doesn’t seem to notice how awkward their positioning is, but Amber does, and heat floods to her face as she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. Vi’s straddling her and doesn’t seem to notice it, but the weight on Amber’s hips tells her everything and she forces herself not to grin because of how much she internally found herself liking it. 

_‘You’ve only known her for four days, Amber, stop it.’_

_‘But...it feels so right? I can’t quite explain it, though, not yet at least.’_

Over time, though, Vi’s giggles slow, and even she notices the awkward position they were both in, and, to Amber’s utter amusement, she watches Vi grow visibly flustered, a rare sight that Amber found herself absolutely relishing. 

“Fuck,” Vi whispers, partially to herself, Amber reckons. “I’m sorry, Amber, didn’t realise I’d...er…” she laughs awkwardly in a feeble attempt to save herself. “Guess you’re just that irresistible, hm, princess?”

Amber hates how that manages to make her face heat up, and she looks to the side awkwardly, swallowing down a noise of disappointment as Vi rolls off of her and back into her position from before. 

“I could say the same for you, my favourite,” she whispers softly, only for Vi to catch once she rolls to her side to regard the knight, a warm smile on her face. She still feels a little weird about the term and its meaning, but she can’t lie to herself; she does favour Vi over the others, she had managed to get herself a favourite, and she wasn’t too sure if she was against it or not.

Vi’s eye widens, her jaw parting slightly in shock as she blinks rapidly as if trying to replay the sentence in her head. “Did you just…?”

“I did,” Amber affirms. “It’s no use hiding the term, we both know you’re my favourite, Vi, just...without the affairs, but I suppose there are some beds involved,” she pats the mattress below them for emphasis while giggling, making Vi follow suit as if it were contagious.

“Well, you’re my favourite princess, if that helps make us even,” she responds after a moment, smiling slightly as Amber furrows her brows for a moment in thought.

“Aren’t I the only princess you know, though?”

Vi’s face pales as if just remembering this fact, and Amber snorts when she mutters “Fuck, she’s right,” under her breath, furrowing her brows as she tries to think of a recovery. “Well, er, if I _did_ know any other princesses, you’d still be my favourite!”

Amber bursts into a heap of giggles at the recovery, and Vi rolls her eye, shoving Amber’s shoulder again so the princess gets pushed off her side and onto her back. “Stop laughing at me or I’ll get up again and tickle you into silence!”

“Wow, scary,” Amber grins cheekily at the knight, raising her eyebrows challengingly. “I’m shaking, really, though I’m not sure how quiet I’ll be able to be, normally tickling makes people laugh _more_ , not quiet down.”

Vi takes a moment to process this before a scowl crosses her face. “Oh, shut up!” she groans, covering her face with her arms from her position on her belly. “If it didn’t hurt to stretch my arms I’d actually get up and do it!”

“And if I wasn’t afraid that I’d end up hurting you I’d do it back,” Amber retorts before sticking her tongue out, amusement glittering in her pale blue eyes. 

After that, both girls spend the rest of the day relaxing. Amber eventually gets up to grab some of her art supplies to draw while Vi ends up drifting off to nap for a little bit, having been more tired than she had thought.

Amber finds herself sketching Vi’s sleeping form as the knight naps, her eyes wandering back to Vi’s back as she does. The wounds on her back already look much better than they had before, though they still make Amber feel absolutely horrible anytime she sees them.

_‘If I had just...not had Vi sit with me...had just had her stand by the wall like a normal guard...had not let her help me insult him...she wouldn’t have these’_ she thinks bitterly, cursing herself under her breath. She knows Vi didn’t want her to blame herself but she couldn’t help it. She knew Vi had made an oath to protect her, but a part of Amber felt like she too had a responsibility to keep her guard safe, and she had failed.

She hates the fact that Vi had gotten herself hurt, not only that, but had scarred herself not only because of something Drake had said about her, but also to simply defend herself, hated the fact that if she had kept Vi away from him in the first place none of this would have happened.

_‘But now her back is marred by lash scars and she’s acting as if it was all worth it, but I can’t...I just...I can’t understand how it was, how she’s able to look me and not blame me for this. Yes, it was Drake’s fault for attacking her for his own jealous or spiteful reasons, but it was partially mine for bringing Vi into my insults toward him. The fact that she even came back to my room at all and doesn’t want to retire as my guard because of this just...I don’t understand...’_

She doesn’t realise she’s crying again until she feels water splash on the thumb holding the parchment she had been sketching on, and she curses quietly when realising some tears had fallen on the paper, waving it a little in the air to try and dry it while she sniffled, longing to be able to turn back time and fix all of this before it had happened.

She’s snapped out of her thoughts, her teary state, when suddenly feeling a hand rest on her thigh, and she starts a little, turning and noticing that Vi had woken up, her eye blinking blearily.

“How long have I been out?” she grumbles first, her voice hoarse from sleep. Amber blinks rapidly, still surprised the girl had woken. It takes her a while to answer because of it.

“Er...around an hour and a half, maybe,” she answers after a few long moments.

Vi lifts her head up, noticing that the sun was beginning to set, and she sighs softly. “I’m still exhausted,” she murmurs, though when she looks at Amber’s face her brows furrow, and Amber bristles a little, realising she hadn’t had time to wipe her face as Vi reaches a hand out and brushes her thumb across her right cheekbone, moving back when she presumably feels how wet Amber’s skin is.

“You’ve been crying?” she questions, lifting her head up so Amber could see the concerned expression on the girl’s face. “Why? What’s wrong?”

 

Amber sniffles again and wipes her nose with her sleeve without a care. “I just…” she whimpers, hating how pathetic she sounds right now. “I don’t understand, you…you got lashed because of m-”

“No,” Vi stops her before she can say anything else, the hand that had brushed Amber’s tears away coming back as Vi places her thumb over Amber’s lips to quiet her. “Neither of us had any idea Drake would react to us screwing with him in that way. I knew what I was getting into when I struck him, Amber, I knew what would happen and I accepted it. There was nothing we could do about it when your stepfather is...the way he is.”

“But-” Amber’s voice wavers as her lips brush against Vi’s thumb as she speaks, imploring the other girl to move her hand away again. “But you got _hurt_ , and-”

“Amber,” Vi says, and it shocks Amber how lighthearted Vi could sound right now. “It is my job to get hurt, it is my job, especially, to keep you safe and to defend you, I took that oath, I knew that I was risking my skin becoming a royal guard and I took it, if I get hurt, it’s because I’m trying to defend myself or you from something, and Drake is a threat to you whether you think so or not.”

Amber blinks at Vi, and the knight shakes her head and flashes Amber a tired smile, reaching up to cup her face like she did only hours earlier. “Whether you like it or not, sometimes I’ll do things that might get me hurt, or I’ll end up getting hurt defending myself or by getting into fights because someone said some shit about you or me, unfortunately, I just...can be like that,” she chuckles a little as she shakes her head again, sighing softly. “But I’m here, okay? I’m alive, and to be honest, Amber? I won’t lie to you and say that getting lashed didn’t hurt, that’s not true, it hurt like hell, but _nothing_ will ever hurt more than this did,” she says, pointing toward the bangs that covered her left eye. “I’ve been through worse, I think I can handle a few more lashes before my body gives out, and besides...as I said, maidens like scars, perhaps I really am rather dashing now.”

Amber, despite her mood prior, finds herself smiling and even giggling a small, broken giggle at that. “You’ve _always_ been dashing,” she corrects, her voice a mere whisper as she regards the knight beside her. “Always.”

The lopsided grin that appears on Vi’s face at that makes Amber’s heart race a little, and she feels the knight gently brush her thumb across Amber’s cheek in a surprisingly soft show of endearment before laying it back down. “Now look who’s being the flatterer…”

Amber bites her lip a little, and a tiny part of her urges her to move forward and close the distance between them, but she keeps her ground. Despite her feelings, she knows she’s not ready yet, not confident enough, she’s never been good at opening up about her feelings, she never has before, and though she’s not as afraid of Drake finding out as she was prior the feeling still pricks at her slightly like a dull thorn. 

_‘Soon, though, I’ll tell you, maybe when I’m less worried that you might not feel the same or when I feel more confident, besides, it’s not wise to act on feelings so soon, it’s only been four days…give me a month and a half and if this feeling persists...I’ll act on it. I want to fall in love with all of you, not just the you I’ve known for four days now’_

“I’ll always flatter you if you flatter me,” she finally whispers back, and Amber can’t help but smile when Vi gives her a warm smile as she settles back against the pillow she’d been laying on.

Amber doesn’t remember exactly when she fell asleep, the parchment she’d been drawing on resting by her thigh her head rests on her pillow next to Vi, but she does know that she fell asleep watching her knight through lidded eyes.

—————————

Vi wakes up to voices nearby, and she groans loudly, assuming she had been asleep this entire time and her time spent with Amber had been but a dream, and that she was back in the barracks with her loud, annoying companions.

Though, when she regains a little more consciousness, she realises that she’s not in her bed, recognising the soft material she was laying in as Amber’s bed pretty quickly after that. A smile slowly grows on her face, knowing it wasn’t a dream then, it had actually happened.

Her heart beats quickly as she remembers how she’d fallen asleep the day prior, having calmed Amber down after she’d begun to fret over her again, and how kind the princess’ words had been. 

Vi’s gestures toward the princess weren’t gestures she normally regarded her friends or confidants with, especially the touches toward Amber’s face. She knew this, too, and knew exactly what this meant.

_‘Of course I’d grow to harbour feelings for the princess, I already don’t want to hurt her, Hell, I’d take more lashings to the back if it meant keeping her safe. But I’m a knight, and she’s royalty, I…’_ she frowns to herself. _‘Hardly doubt she’d ever feel the same.’_

The situation does, however, make Vi chuckle to herself a little, as she realises how ironic it was that she’d grow to love the girl she was originally supposed to kidnap and possibly kill later on. The mere thought of doing such a thing like that now made her want to laugh, she knows she wouldn’t be able to.

She realises too, how angry her mother might be if she found out about this. _‘She’s never going to let me live this down if she finds out that-‘_ she pauses, a sinking feeling filling her belly as realisation sets in. _‘she can’t find out about this or Amber’s a dead girl walking. I keep forgetting she was the one who ordered me to do this.’_

Her mother had been right about one thing, there were bad people in this kingdom, but she’d been wrong about them all being bad. Vi came to this kingdom with the full belief that she’d hate Amber’s guts, hell, everyone’s guts, but so far the only two people she really wanted to harm have been the King and the princess’s betrothed, the latter of which Vi wouldn’t mind seeing lashed like she had been.

A soft growl leaves Vi’s throat as she remembers the events of yesterday morning. She’d been dragged into the king’s chambers at dawn to find an angry, clearly having just woken up king beside his wife, as well as Drake, who had looked like he’d been dragged through the woods tied to a horse, and who she had assumed had been his supervisor beside him. She’d been yelled at for what felt like hours, and when the king was about to demote her and make it clear she’d be serving among the low ranks for the rest of her days, Lorelei had stepped in immediately.

Vi supposes that she had to give the queen some slack, she had kept her from getting demoted, and when the king had decreed she’d be lashed for “attacking” the prince despite her and Lorelei’s insistence that it’d been self-defence, Lorelei had followed her and the knight that had been ordered to lash her outside and Vi had watched wide-eyed as she saw the queen slip a pouch of coin into the knight’s hand, wondering what it had meant until she had been lashed only five times out of the twenty originally given to her.

She wasn’t lying to Amber when she had said it hurt. It did, it felt like fire was licking at her back for hours after it had been done, but she truly didn’t feel as if anything could have ever hurt as much as having her eye cut out, and she had pushed through it despite the tears and screams that had left her during it.

Lorelei had stuck behind after ordering the guard to leave and Vi had nearly collapsed when she felt the queen suddenly pour a bucket of cold water down her back after leaving for a moment. Seeing her own blood splatter on the ground mixed with the water had given her horrible flashbacks to a year or so prior and it didn’t surprise Vi when it had caused her to retch as she sat crouched on the ground, shaking like a leaf. She knew the queen had stood nearby the entire time it took for her to finally regain her bearings and stand, and standing alone had felt like falling back first onto a pile of hot coals. 

The queen had poured one more bucket of water over her wounds before letting Vi go back to her room, Vi having thanked her more than she should’ve, likely because the idea of having to have been lashed fifteen more times made her want to expel what little might be left in her stomach after the first time.

She didn’t sleep, couldn’t have with the pain, and she instead simply put her armour on despite the searing pain that came from clothing herself again, and went to the village to grab something to eat, not wanting to risk any other guard seeing her in clear pain.

She’d not realised she was late to see Amber before hearing the clock in town chime twelve times, and she had cursed and run as fast as she could in her injured state back to the castle, the apples she and Amber had eaten the day prior in her bag she’d brought.

Now, laying in Amber’s bed, her back feeling sore but otherwise relatively okay now, Vi was still reeling over Amber’s kindness and generosity yesterday, though the fact that she’d made Amber cry twice that day over worrying about her made her heart ache a little.

It wasn’t Amber’s fault Drake had lashed out the way he had, and once he did Vi was going to get punished either way, even if she hadn’t retaliated he’d have likely gone to the king regardless. And she still didn’t regret having retaliated, as now he had hopefully gained a scar in his face to remind him of who he’d chosen to mess with. It makes Vi smirk a little in satisfaction.

_‘Least I made his face uglier than it already was, scars might make one dashing but they just make Drake look more like the rat he is.'_

She’s jarred from her thoughts, however, when she hears Amber’s voice grow louder, footsteps drawing near Vi before she’s gently prodded in the shoulder. She turns her head, smiling up at Amber, who smiles back a tiny bit.

“Good morning, princess,” Vi drawls, yawning, and it takes Amber placing a hand on Vi’s shoulder to remind her not to stretch so her back isn’t agitated. 

“Morning,” Amber murmurs in response, her tone almost sing-song. She looks like she had gotten a good amount of sleep, and it takes Vi a moment to remember that both of them had passed out pretty early yesterday. Vi had been exhausted after going through both the punishment and from the trek into town, and Amber had likely been tired from fretting over Vi for the entire day.

She opens her mouth to ask Amber how she’s feeling when she pauses, hearing another set of footsteps, and her brows furrow, growing a little wary as she slowly pushes herself up into a sitting position so she can turn, her eye widening a little when she spots an older woman with a small pouch of what Vi assumes might be supplies tied to the side of her dress. She turns to Amber and blinks, confused.

“This is the doctor,” Amber answers as if having read Vi’s mind. “She’s going to check and treat your wounds for you, and decide how long you need to rest, alright? I called for her earlier while you were sleeping, but I didn’t want to rouse you so we’ve just...been waiting.”

Vi eyes the doctor for a bit longer before nodding in greeting, turning to nod toward Amber as well. “Thank you,” she says, sighing softly. “I guess a good bath isn’t the proper way to cure all wounds, hm? Well, carry on then, let’s just get this over with,” she huffs, moving back down to lay on her belly. “But if she says I need to sew my wounds back together I’m leaving.”

The doctor chuckles at that before introducing herself as Ada, and Vi turns to look at Amber as the princess goes to sit on the bed beside Vi as the older woman comes over to inspect Vi’s back. She makes comments to herself that Vi can’t hear as she speaks, and she shivers anytime she feels Ada’s hand gently touch her skin to inspect a certain area of her back, hoping she wouldn’t accidentally prod her in one of the cuts itself.

“You’re a very lucky girl,” Ada remarks after some time. “I’ve seen lash victims before, some have their back turned to mush from how many times they’re struck,” she murmurs darkly. “You’ll scar, no victim of a lashing makes it out without at least one, but it won’t be as bad as most, though how they’ll scar is up to how your body heals, I’ve seen whip scars that raise the skin or make a line in it, most the time it’s the former, though, lucky for you it won’t be super major, slight bumps at least I’d predict,” she adds. “Now hold on, let me prepare the salve, then I’ll bandage it and we’ll be done.”

Vi sighs heavily. “At least I won’t look like I have a ton of mountains rising on my skin, then,” she mutters, trying to stay optimistic as the doctor chuckles.

“Well, if you ever encounter a particularly foolish crowd of individuals, perhaps you can produce a little fib and say you fought a dragon and lived to tell the tale,” she offers, taking a few sets of herbs and a mortar and pestle from her bag. Vi meets Amber’s gaze as she waits, smiling slightly.

“You’ll tell everyone I fought a dragon for you, right? Rescued you from it's tower?” she teases, smirking a little. “Still haven’t given me my reward for it, though, suppose you’ll have to give me another one of your thank you kisses, maybe?”

Amber’s eyes widen a little, and she mouths “Vi!” while tilting her head toward the doctor as if to remind Vi she was still here, however, the doctor had been so busy grinding up the herbs into a salve that she hadn’t seemed to notice, thankfully. Or perhaps she had, and she was being smart and keeping her mouth shut, Vi didn’t really care.

“At least kiss my wounds better!” Vi whines dramatically, ignoring the death glare Amber sends her instead. “And I carried you all the way home from that tower up in the mountains, wounded and without a horse, just for this? My heart is truly shattered, you wound me even more.”

A light chuckle from Ada pauses their conversation, and Amber stops glaring daggers into Vi to look up, confused.

“You two seem close,” the old woman teases, a knowing look twinkling in her brown eyes. Vi smirks a little as she watches Amber’s face immediately grow a little pink. 

“Yup, like two peas in a pod,” the knight responds, looking Amber dead in the eyes as she says it. “Amber’s my closest friend, aren’t you, Amber? My _favourite_ friend?”

Amber looks quite literally like she might murder Vi with her bare hands, and it just makes Vi’s grin grow even more as the princess shakily goes. “Yes. My...favourite friend and knight,” she mutters, and Vi beams at her innocently as she looks down to glare at her again.

Ada finishes the salve as they speak and Vi starts a little as she begins to smooth the crushed herb mixture along her skin. It makes Vi shiver a little, but she doesn’t comment on it.

“I’ll be making a salve for you to apply for the rest of the week too, until next week you should apply it and wash it off every day to help it heal, keep bandages wrapped around yourself if you leave here and decide to move around, it’ll help prevent you from opening the wounds again as well as keep the salve secure, alright?”

Vi furrows her brows. “I can’t necessarily apply a salve to my back by myself,” she points out. And she didn’t want help from any of the fellow guards in the barracks, either, she wasn’t losing all of her dignity so Archibald could help her keep her back from getting infected.

“Which is why you’ll have to stay here or come up here daily for either her majesty or one of the castle staff to help you apply it,” Ada states bluntly. “I’m sure she’d love to help with how close you both obviously are.”

Vi looks into Amber’s eyes curiously, wanting to see what the princess would say on the matter. Getting to sleep in Amber’s bed for a solid week sounded heavenly, in Vi’s opinion, though she’d also understand if Amber wanted it back to just herself, she didn’t mind having to walk to visit her, regardless.

Amber seems to be considering her options as well, a soft sigh leaving her lips after a moment. “I don’t see any problem with letting her sleep up here, it’s not like she bothered me at all last night,” she says after a moment, meeting Vi’s gaze with a slightly warm smile. “Guess...it could help us get to know each other even better, too, right?”

Vi finds herself growing a little bashful at that, though nerves prick at her skin at the idea of telling Amber more about herself, knowing that it’d mean more careful word choice. 

“Yeah,” she murmurs in response, glancing to the side for a moment. “Guess while I wait for this to heal I’ll just spend my time up here with you, but since I’ll be able to walk…” she pauses to lift herself up so the doctor can begin to wrap bandages around her back, the material going around her abdomen and chest to make sure she was covering all spots. It feels restrictive after a day of wearing nothing on her upper half, but Vi doesn’t complain.

Ada makes sure the bandages are secure before handing the thick roll of them to Amber. “Here, I’ll have one of my assistants send up the salve when I get it all made, your highness,” she dips into a curtsy, much to, as Vi notices, Amber’s displeasure, and she forces herself not to snicker, remembering how much Amber hated formalities.

“Thank you,” the princess responds, nodding. “I’ll let my mother know to up your pay this month next time I see her.”

Ada smiles genuinely at that. “Your generosity warms my heart, but for now I bid you both farewell.”

As the doctor leaves, Amber sighs heavily, her smile fading almost immediately as she tiredly looks over at Vi.

“So,” Vi starts before Amber can say a work, a smirk growing on her lips. “Guess I’m stuck with you twenty-four-seven for a week, huh? What a shame…”

Amber rolls her eyes at that. “Jokes on you, this is actually wonderful for me, I can just say I won’t go anywhere without my guard which means,” she draws out the “e” in means as she says it. “No forced events or meetings for a week!”

Vi snickers at that. “Ah, so you’re really just keeping me here so you have an excuse to avoid your responsibilities? Not because you like my company? Wow, I truly am-”

“Hey, I meant it when I said we could get to know each other better by being around one another now,” Amber corrects Vi with a knowing look. “And...I was thinking, in maybe a day or two, when you feel up to it, to make sure you don’t just lay around in bed all day and night for a week...that...perhaps we could,” she shuffles her feet awkwardly, “dance around, maybe? My room is big enough for it, you know.”

Vi rolls her eye in amusement. “You and dancing, it’s almost like you like doing things that involve me holding you close to me,” she teases with a wink. It makes Amber grow visibly flustered, and the sight alone makes Vi grin proudly.

“It’s fun, okay?!” Amber huffs, pouting as she crosses her arms like a child. “If you don’t stop making fun of me for it, I won’t teach you how to play piano.”

“No skin off my back,” Vi shrugs jokingly, her eye twinkling with mirth. “Uh...pun not intended.”

The look Amber gives her for that makes Vi nearly fall off the bed laughing, especially when the princess shoves her face into her hands and groans exasperatedly.

This was going to be a long week.


	8. VII - Another Friendly Confrontation

Vi changes her mind, this week went by way too fast for her liking. Now it was over, her back was healed to the point where she had no excuse for sleeping in Amber’s room, and she was pretty upset over it.

Their week-long sleepover had been fun, at least it had in Vi’s eye. They’d talked, danced, Vi played chess for the first time and promptly hated it, and she’d even gotten to use Amber’s bath again, only this time with warm water, which had been absolutely heavenly, though seeing Amber’s flustered face when she had jokingly invited her in the tub with her had been a treat in itself.

Now, though, Vi was reluctantly pulling her shirt on after days of not having to wear it. She was going to wear her bandages for one more day, though since her wounds had scabbed over and were looking much better she’d likely keep them off for good tomorrow. She reaches for the armour that Amber had someone go fetch for her the day prior. It was heavier than her lightest set of armour, not chainmail but steel this time due to what they had planned for today. For the first time since she’d met Amber, as well, her helmet rested beside her, too.

They were finally getting to go down to the town today, Amber having decided it last night, leaving Vi rather excited. Not only was she getting to go back outside again outside of standing or sitting on the balcony with Amber, but she was going to see more of the town outside of the small portion of the market she had been at a week prior.

Amber wanted to meet two friends of hers, one who worked at the tavern, too, and Vi grins at the idea of getting a decent drink and meal. Not that Amber had exactly given her nothing to eat, she’d had the maids who brought food up purposefully deliver two servings so Vi would have a full meal and wouldn’t have to share with Amber, but the idea of mead or just beer in general sounded nice to Vi right now, along with some sort of beef or chicken as well made her stomach rumble with want, and she grins to herself slightly.

Finishing up pulling on her armour, Vi grabs her belt and secures it around her waist, sliding her sword and her dagger into their respective sheaths. She checks to see if the pouch of coin on her belt is secure and nods when she feels the spot it’s placed at; carefully hidden behind her sword sheath. She grabs her helmet, but decides she’ll put it on when they arrive in town, as with it on her voice doesn’t sound as clear as it does with it off, and she’d rather be able to speak to Amber coherently on the way there.

Speaking of which, Vi turns as she catches footsteps behind her, spotting Amber sidling over with a frustrated look on her face. Since Vi was in the room, Amber hadn’t called for a servant to help her with the ties of the corset she was having to wear today since she was going out in public. She had, thankfully, gotten the chemise below it on fine. The dress she meant to wear was in her hands, and she huffs as she drops it on the bed to try and reach behind her to pull at the ties of her corset, clearly hating every second of wearing the damned thing.

Vi chuckles softly, which garners Amber’s attention as she looks up from what she’s doing, pouting miserably as she looks at Vi.

“Do you need some help?” Vi asks, tilting her head to the side. She wondered why Amber was even bothering to wear the corset in the first place. It wasn’t like she needed it, Amber wasn’t exactly within the group of people who desired to have a certain shape that a corset could give them despite her not being exactly curvy in shape, and, though she wouldn’t say it out loud because she knew exactly what kind of reaction she’d get from saying it, she didn’t think she really needed any support for her chest, either.

When Amber nods and Vi moves behind the princess to gently pull the strings on the garment, she decides to voice her questions. “Can I ask why you wear this thing? Isn’t it a pain in the ass to wear?”

Amber huffs softly, flashing Vi a thankful look when she doesn’t tie it all the way to leave Amber with more breathing room, and Vi’s brows furrow as she realises that her servants likely don’t normally do that for her. “I hate it, but unfortunately you-know-who requires me to wear it since it’s “proper” apparently,” she rolls her eyes. “And I don’t want to be told to come back into my room to change into one if we end up bumping into him on the way out, so it’s better to just put it on and deal with it.”

Vi rolls her eyes. “Ah, I see, so we sacrifice your lungs to be proper, of course he’d think that,” she scoffs, finishing tying the garment into a loose knot. Amber turns to grab her dress and begins to put it on as Vi continues to speak. “If you want you can take it off in the carriage and put it back on one the way back, I won’t tell.”

Amber chuckles as she adjusts the sleeves of her dress, and Vi once again moves over to tie the back of it for her. “You’ve given me enough breathing room to not really care,” she responds with a shrug. “You’re lucky, I doubt knights have to dabble with corsets.”

Vi laughs lightly at that. “Indeed, though I’ve had to wear one before a couple times when I was younger,” she says idly, finishing up tying the string on the back of Amber’s dress. “Nowadays, though, I either wear nothing below my shirt or just wrap a long band of cloth if I feel like I need some support for something I might be doing that day.”

“You probably pulled off a corset better than I,” Amber laughs, and Vi notices no malice in it, she’s only playing around. 

Regardless, Vi smiles warmly. “Corset or not, you look wonderful, though personally, I prefer you out of it because you look much happier without it on,” she murmurs. “And seeing you happy and comfortable in whatever you happen to be wearing makes _me_ happy,” she adds, smirking as she, without thinking, presses her lips to the back of Amber’s head gently. She doesn’t regret doing it, though.

Amber’s face grows slightly pink in colour as her breath hitches, but a bashful smile emerges on her lips regardless. “That’s why you’re my favourite,” she responds in a mere whisper, as if there were multiple people in the room and she only wanted Vi to hear.

The words alone make Vi’s heart hammer in her chest. Over the week the two had begun acting like this more and more often, she supposes it might have been since Amber admitted to Vi being her favourite, or perhaps since Vi had been by Amber’s side almost constantly for the past week, and Vi secretly relished it, and she had a feeling Amber did too.

As Amber had hoped a week ago, they had gotten to know each other more. Vi knew little tidbits about Amber that made her even more fond of the girl, and Amber knew the same for Vi, which made Vi feel closer than ever to the princess, feeling like she might know things about her no others knew. Their lives had almost become routine together; get up, eat breakfast together, get dressed (in Vi’s case it had just been a change of trousers since she wore her bandages and that was it above that), eat lunch, chat, dance, draw, or nap, and finally eat dinner. Amber would occasionally leave the room to get a book from the library or some more parchment for drawing, but otherwise, they stayed together for the most part.

Vi snapped out of her thoughts, though, as Amber had stepped away to slip on her shoes along with a cloak to cover her head and face with so the public wouldn’t immediately recognise her. Vi being there obviously made it difficult for any who might realise the princess was in their presence to approach, but it helped regardless, and Vi also knew that Amber could get overwhelmed if crowded by a lot of people at once thanks to their talks during the week, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

Vi smiles at the smaller girl as she turns to meet her gaze, following her as they finally leave her room to head out toward the front of the castle. Amber had called for a carriage about half an hour prior, so Vi suspected it would be waiting for them by now.

They only encounter maids or other castle staff as they walk through the castle, leaving through the front gate with nobody stopping them, much to Vi’s glee. The carriage was indeed waiting for them, and Vi helps Amber get in before stepping inside herself. Amber doesn’t sit across from Vi like she assumes most would in any other situation, clearly finding it more comfortable to sit right next to her, though Vi doesn’t mind that in the slightest, as it gives her an excuse to move her arm around the girl whenever they encounter even slightly bumpy terrain.

It takes them around twenty minutes to get to the part of town Amber wanted to go to first, and before they step out Vi sighs, lifting her helmet up to put it on. Amber seems to finally notice the helmet and frowns a little.

“Shame, I suppose I shan’t see your face today, then?” she asks, sighing dramatically. “It was my favourite thing to look up and see other than the clouds.”

Vi laughs at that, rolling her eyes in amusement. “I have to, lord knows that someone might try to strike me on my head, I’m already missing one eye, I need this one where it is,” she snickers, pointing at her visible eye. She was wearing an eyepatch around the missing one since putting her bangs in front of her face while wearing her helmet wasn’t the most comfortable feeling in the world. “Plus, it makes me look more intimidating.”

“I certainly hope nobody tries to strike you regardless,” Amber responds with a grimace as if imagining it. “And...I suppose it does,” she agrees as Vi adjusts her hair before placing the helmet atop her head. The visor could be moved up, and she moves it up once just to smirk and wink at Amber before letting it fall back down. 

Amber rolls her eyes in response and finally gets up, letting Vi move ahead of her to open the door to the carriage and help her out of it. She nods to the coachman before following Amber into the town, keeping an eye out just in case anyone approached.

They were in the market, she could tell, spotting stands dot the area as they walked past. A multitude of smells assault Vi’s senses; she could smell fresh bread from the bakery nearby as well as the smell of cooked beef from one of the many taverns nearby, and the thought of eating any of the food offered made her mouth water a little, and she doesn’t realise that she’d stopped walking until Amber tugs on her arm gently.

“Vi?” she calls, making Vi start a little and gaze down at the princess, thankful she couldn’t see how embarrassed she looked for having been caught like she was. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Vi answers quickly, laughing softly. “I guess I’m just hungry, I got entranced by all the food around here, must be why they sell so well.”

Amber rolls her eyes in amusement at that. “Do you want me to get you something, then? There’s plenty of options, bread, apples, pastries, the like.”

Vi thinks for a long moment. “Hm...well, I know we’re going to eat at the tavern so I think an apple would be fine for now,” she shrugs, following Amber as the princess nods and turns to head over to the fruit stand. Vi’s tempted to pay for it herself since she knows Amber would likely be recognised either by voice or if the vendor looked up her cloak, though she knows Amber likely wouldn’t let her, and she simply stands beside Amber as the princess purchases an apple for her. If the vendor recognises her as the princess, he doesn’t comment on it.

As they veer away from the stand, Amber hands the apple to Vi, who lets her visor up to eat the fruit as they walk. Amber doesn’t really eye anything outside of maybe a few pieces of jewellery that might catch her eye from time to time. Vi eyes the flower stand for a moment, but decides to tone down on being herself with Amber considering they were in public.

Even Amber seems to get hungry, though, as they turn around for a moment so Amber can purchase a strawberry tart for herself from the bakery, though not without breaking a quarter of it off so Vi could have some, much to the knight’s glee.

They, of course, enter a blacksmith’s shop at some point, as not only Vi was interested in weapons in their relationship, and Vi notices Amber eyeing an ornate silver dagger with a black hilt for a bit before resigning her gaze to leave the shop, Vi following as she tears her gaze from a pretty greatsword she had spotted near the entrance.

“Not wanting to buy a weapon for yourself, princess?” Vi asks as she catches up with Amber, a playful tone to her words. Amber looks over her shoulder to smile amusedly at Vi.

“Unfortunately, no, I’m not really allowed to have them on me, as you expect, it’s not-”

“Proper, I know,” Vi rolls her eye, having finished the apple. She huffs and throws it into a patch of grass when they pass it, securing her visor back over her face. “Whatever, every person should have a dagger on them sometimes, it’s to stay safe.”

“Mhm,” Amber hums, shrugging. “Wish the King believed that, but alas…”

“He’s a massive prick,” Vi finishes for her, making Amber giggle loudly, covering her mouth with her hand as she looks back at Vi, her pale blue eyes glowing with amusement.

Vi feels her heart skip a beat, and is once again thankful for the helmet on her head as she feels her face heat up a little bit. _‘Fuck, she’s so cute.’_

They walk for a while, looking inside multiple stores along the way as Amber seems to be heading down a path she’s memorised. It makes Vi’s brows quirk curiously, and she doesn’t comment as they head into a less crowded part of town, an area with more damage to its buildings, Vi notices, which makes her squint and finally start to question the princess’ intentions.

“Amb?” Vi calls out, having begun to use that as a nickname for the princess since around halfway during her week of staying in the girl’s room. It rolled off her tongue quickly and she found it to be a cute little thing between them, and Amber didn’t seem to mind it, welcomed it, even. “Where are we going?”

“To see a friend of mine, she lives around here,” Amber answers quickly, looking around. Vi assumes she must mean one of the broken down buildings around them and looks around as if expecting an obvious figure to appear in one of them, but instead nearly jumps out of her skin when she turns around only to spot Amber heading down one of the alleys nearby.

_‘No! God knows who or what might be in those! She’ll get herself killed, damn it!’_

She races after Amber, skidding into the damp alleyway and following Amber down the path, one hand ready to draw her sword by her side. “Amber, let’s not go into an alley thieves or murderers or worse could be hiding in, you are not armed and-“

“It’s okay, Vi,” Amber shakes her head. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I am severely inclined to doubt that-“

“Well, well, well, look who’s decided to stop by today!” a voice tears through the air behind Vi, interrupting her, and almost instantaneously Vi tears her sword from its sheath and whirls around like lightning, the tip of her blade mere centimetres from the throat of a silhouette that had come up behind them. The person holds their hands up immediately, and in the dim light of the alley Vi notices a pair of wide grey-blue eyes peering at her from under a hood.

“Jesus Christ, cool it, Reg, it’s just me- wait a second,” the person says again, their eyes narrowing thoughtfully as they look Vi up-and-down. “You’re not…”

“One more step and you won’t be talking any longer, I’d suggest you b-“

“Vi! Stop it!” Amber’s voice interrupts this time, her voice slightly panicked, and Vi stares down at Amber with a befuddled look on her face as the princess shoves past her and grabs her arm. “That’s the friend I said we were going to see, please _don’t_ render her unable to speak, as annoying as she might be at times I like her the way she is.”

The person nods, a cheeky grin growing on her face, which was visible from the nose down now. “Ha, Amber just says that because she’s jealous of my charisma,” she responds, moving more into the light before she reaches up to let her hood fall back, revealing her face. The woman has pale skin, her face marred by scars, and she wears a cocky smirk that rival’s Vi’s own. With a start Vi realises she’s been looking up when regarding her this entire time, realising just now that the girl was taller than her, not by an extreme amount, Vi guesses maybe two inches at most, but it was noticeable. Her raven-black hair is extremely short and clearly cut messily by the girl’s own hands, Vi assumes using a dagger, she’s done it before herself.

With a hearty grin, the girl lifts her right arm and offers her hand to Vi. “Charmed to meet you, Vi, right?” she asks, nodding when Vi nods as she takes her hand and shakes it in greeting. “I’m Meredith. I apologise for startling you, I hadn’t known Amber had gotten a new guard, he was...used to my entrances,” she introduces herself, an amused glint to her eyes. “But I’m also pretty glad, Reginald _hated_ me.”

“In his defence, you _are_ very open about being a thief for a living,” Amber butts in for a moment, laughing as Meredith suddenly lunges forward to grab Amber by the arm and pull her into an embrace, using the close proximity to ruffle Amber’s hair roughly. 

“And _you_ , you little scamp, I haven’t seen you in a solid month!” Meredith crows, snickering as Amber bursts into giggles and tries to escape Meredith’s grasp to no avail. “I was considering sneaking into the castle through your window again to make sure you weren’t dead!”

Vi squints at that, looking between Amber and Meredith with a bewildered look on her face. “Wait- Amber, you’re friends with...a thief? And she’s snuck into the castle before?”

Meredith finally relents on her attack on Amber and lets her go with a gentle push, the princess snickering as she wobbles off balance, pressing her hand on the breastplate of Vi’s armour to regain balance for a moment. 

“Yeah,” she answers after a moment to calm down. “Mer’s not your stereotypical thief, though, trust me, she’s really sweet.”

“Well, when you’re my friend, that is,” Meredith adds in with a smirk. “I didn’t get these scars from a fall from the stairs, as long as you don’t piss me off we’re good, though, and,” she directs her glance toward Vi and chuckles. “I only steal from the rich unless you piss me off, don’t worry.”

“That makes me feel no better considering that my charge is royalty,” Vi says pointedly, though regardless she smirks. “Of course Amber would befriend someone like you, though, I should have guessed.”

“What can I say, she seems drawn to roguish types,” Meredith shrugs, snickering as Amber rolls her eyes and elbows her in the side.

“I am not,” she retorts, huffing. “In fact, I recall that when I first met you, despite being in the streets you were anything but roguish.”

Meredith stops smiling to scowl at that, rolling her eyes back at Amber. “Ugh, don't remind me,” she grumbles. “Believe it or not, Vi,” she turns to face Vi now, “at some point in my life I wore dresses and had hair down to here,” she points at her shoulders, “and, this one might floor you, keep your legs steady, I used to be _Amber’s_ height, when I was like, nine.”

“Hey!”

Vi can’t help but laugh at that, placing a hand over her mouth as she regards Amber. “It’s okay, Amber, I was your height at one point too, I’d wager at age ten, when I still thought dwarves and gnomes were the same things.”

Amber glares up at Vi, a scowl written on her lips. “Don’t be a cunt.”

“Well, you know what they say-” Vi shrugs, a shit-eating grin on her face as Amber groans loudly, cutting Vi off, and shoves her face into her hands in exasperation.

Meredith bursts out laughing at the exchange, walking over to clap a hand on Vi’s shoulder playfully. “I like this one,” she comments, turning to look at a slightly annoyed Amber. “You should keep her.”

“Oh, she’s not getting rid of me anytime soon,” Vi practically purrs, making Amber’s entire face grow pink. Meredith notices it, and one look between both Vi and Amber makes a gigantic grin grow on her lips as Vi assumes wheels begin to turn in the thief’s head.

She meets Vi’s gaze and, making sure Amber can’t see, lifts up a fist and sticks out her middle and index finger before crossing them together while tilting her head toward Amber as if asking a question silently, her brows furrowed. Vi feels her face grow a little warm at the implication Meredith was making and shakes her head quickly. As Amber squints at the both of them, both Vi and Meredith quickly look over and smile innocently at Amber, who rolls her eyes.

“Good to know that now I have two insufferable dolts following me about,” she teases, though her smile contains no malice, and is surprisingly warm to contrast the comment she had just made.

“You love us,” Meredith smirks, sauntering over to sling her arm around Amber’s shoulders, their height difference when right next to one another almost comical in comparison, which makes Vi chuckle to herself. 

“Questionable at best,” Amber retorts with a wry grin, sticking her tongue out. “But I’m not here to just stand in an alley and talk, I wanna introduce Vi to Skylar, too, plus we both want a bite to eat and a drink or two anyway.”

Meredith nods as Amber speaks. “Ooo, you know, I’ve been meaning to pay Sky a visit for a bit now, perhaps I should add more to my tab, I’m hoping that if it gets long enough she’ll eventually give up and stop expecting me to pay it back.”

Amber groans and rolls her eyes. “That’s not how it works and you know it, Mer.”

Meredith scoffs dramatically, reaching over with her free hand to gently pat Amber on the head. “Amber, Amber, Amber, you know me, I can make _everything_ work if I try hard enough,” she jokes, snickering as Amber huffs and pushes Meredith off of her with a bump of her hip. 

“Not when it regards Skylar you can’t,” she responds, moving backwards so she can walk alongside Vi again as they begin to leave the alley, heading out of the rundown part of the town and back near the marketplace. “She’s not a pushover, you should know this by now.”

“But she looooooves me,” Meredith argues playfully, leading the group down the road toward where the tavern was. 

“Begrudgingly, maybe,” Amber snarks, snickering. Meredith turns around to slap a hand on her sternum dramatically, eyes wide in mock hurt.

“Hey! Don’t be mean, she _does_ love me, I keep her company when the tavern closes _and_ I help her clean up!”

“Only because if you didn’t Sky would have a viable reason to kick your ass out of the tavern anytime you tried coming in,” Amber retorts.

As they continue to bicker on their way to the tavern, Vi hardly listens, deep within her thoughts as gears begin to grind in her head as she glances at Meredith through the corner of her eye. She liked the girl already, and, to Vi’s internal glee, she was solidly sure Meredith might be able to help her with something she had been pondering over for the past week.

————————

As they enter the tavern, Vi’s ears are assaulted by loud chatter as tables full of people talk and bicker before them. There’s a group of men arm wrestling drunkenly to their right, and occasionally loud cheers leave the men around them as a loud thump of someone’s arm hitting the table rings out. The tavern is large and warm, it almost feels homey to Vi in a way, comfortable despite the amount of noise.

A pretty girl with almost shoulder length kinky black hair and dark brown skin spots them first, and Vi notices her hazel eyes brighten a little as she sets down the glass she was cleaning off behind the bar of the tavern before striding over, immediately pulling Amber into a hug, the princess eagerly reciprocating. 

“It’s been a bit, I almost thought they’d locked you in there!” the girl, who Vi _assumes_ is the Skylar Meredith and Amber had mentioned, laughs, pulling apart as she beams down at Amber. This girl isn’t as tall as Vi, but she’s definitely taller than Amber, though at this point Vi’s begun to assume that the only thing that might be shorter than Amber would be a dwarf.

“Please, I’d like to see them try,” Amber responds with a giggle. “I always find a way out somehow.”

“I’ve noticed,” Skylar rolls her eyes in amusement before smiling over at Meredith. “Hey, Mer.”

“No hug? Gee, I even bathed in a bathhouse today for the occasion, and you know how big a risk those are,” the thief teases, amusement glittering in her eyes. 

Skylar huffs, but pulls the taller girl into a halfhearted hug. “You still owe me, just because my mom likes you doesn’t mean you get everything here on the house, Mer.”

“See, I had money to give you earlier but, you know, at the bathhouse, there was this lovely lass from the brothel looking for clients and you know how it i-”

Skylar’s face screws up in disgust and she groans loudly. “I don’t wanna know, stop talking,” she rolls her eyes in annoyance this time before shoving Meredith out of the hug, turning to look over at Vi. “And you? I don’t recognise you, new guard, perhaps?” 

Vi nods, and, feeling safe inside the building for now, pulls off her helmet, sighing in relief as slightly cooler air hits her face. “Mhm, I’m Vi,” she greets herself, holding out her hand. Skylar grasps it firmly and shakes it in greeting, a smile on her face.

“Nice to meet you, Vi, I’m Skylar,” Skylar greets back. “You can call me Sky for short if you’d like, rolls off the tongue faster,” she adds. “How long have you been Amber’s guard for now? I had a feeling the last time I saw her old one he’d be retiring soon, guess my hunch was correct!”

“Hm...about a week and a half now,” Vi answers, her brows having furrowed a little in thought. “Though I spent most of it stuck injured in her room,” she adds. “So technically I’ve been _guarding_ her for only four days, five counting this one.”

Skylar’s brows raise, though she seems to pause whatever she was about to say as if remembering something suddenly. “Oh! Wait, hold on, I shouldn’t have you all just stand out here like this, here, come on, there’s a table over here, we can talk more in a moment, just let me get all of you situated.”

Skylar leads the group over to a wood table with four seats before taking a seat herself, grinning as Meredith sits herself down beside her. Vi pulls out a chair for Amber before sitting in her own chair, flashing the princess a smile as they both sit. 

“I’ll take orders if you three have any in a moment, I’m taking a little break,” the girl says, smiling over at Vi again. “Now, tell me, what possibly could a guard such as yourself have done to get you injured so fast? I do hope Amber hasn’t been so extreme with her orders as to risk your own neck for them.”

Amber frowns, though Vi chuckles softly, shaking her head. “No, no, if you want a fellow to point your accusing hand at it shall be at her betrothed, not her,” she responds. “We told a few jests in his direction and he decided to respond with violence once my back was turned and I retaliated, which her father did not care for,” she explains. “I was lashed five times, would have been twenty but her majesty came to my rescue, and once Amber found out she had me stay in her chambers until the wounds healed like a little royal angel,” she finishes, smirking over at Amber as the princess sheepishly smiles. 

A scowl crosses Meredith’s lips. “Ah, Drake, that little bastard child,” she huffs, rolling her eyes. “The day I first laid eyes on him I wanted to gut him and leave him for the crows and rats, you know, but alas…” she curls her lip in disgust. “He evades me.”

Skylar nods alongside Meredith, shaking her head. “Of course it’s that asshole’s fault, he and the king are normally the cause of problems these days,” she grumbles. “Whether it be how nasty the prince is in public regarding how he treats people or how unreasonable the king’s rules and punishments are.”

Vi rolls her eye. “Yeah, I suppose I got to see it first hand,” she rolls her shoulders as if remembering that morning. “But thankfully I had the princess here to come to my aid, she’s much sweeter than I had assumed, you know, let me use her bath and-“

“That’s enough from you,” Amber interrupts, and as Vi turns to look at her she smirks when noticing how red her cheeks had grown. “I was only keeping you from an early retirement or worse.”

The shared look Skylar and Meredith give each other makes Vi have to put her fist to her mouth to keep herself from snickering. It seemed even the princess’ closest friends didn’t believe a word she’d said.

“Regardless,” Skylar says after a brief moment of silence. “Vi, it’s wonderful to meet you, it’s nice to have someone around our age to talk to, Reginald was...not one for conversation,” she adds with a laugh. “Plus it’s always nice to see Amber have a new friend that can be around her more often, unfortunately, as you can tell, we can’t really do that since we aren’t allowed in the castle without permission.”

Vi laughs at that. “I’m glad to be here, someone has to keep a certain shorty from getting herself in trouble,” she responds, sniggering as Amber elbows her in her armoured side in response, hearing the shorter girl immediately curse in pain as she recoils.

Amber opens her mouth to retort when she recovers, though she pauses as Skylar moves to get to her feet. “Alright, alright, I better get back to work, I’m not even supposed to be on break,” she starts. “Let me take orders for all of you, though, before I go back,” she finishes, nudging Meredith with her elbow so she can start.

“Just mead for me,” the thief replies, smirking at Skylar. “Put it on-”

“Your tab, I know,” Skylar rolls her eyes and Vi hears her mutter “Christ” under her breath before she turns to Vi. “You?”

“Mead and…” it takes Vi a moment to think. “Venison if you have it?”

“We do,” Skylar nods. “And,” she starts, noticing Amber beginning to open her mouth, “you can hold on, you know my mother is going to want to see you and since I’m heading up there you might as well follow, you can tell me up there,” she states. Amber sighs but an amused look appears on her face as she rolls her eyes, getting up as Meredith furrows her brows.

“Hey! What about me? She took me in off the streets, your mom loves me!” she exclaims, gesturing at herself as Skylar snorts.

“I don’t need to listen to her gush over you while completely forgetting your tab exists, I swear, I love my mother but she’s _too_ nice to you sometimes,” the girl retorts, smirking amusedly as Meredith scoffs at her before she turns and leads Amber away. 

Vi watches the pair go behind the bar before going into an entrance in the back, Vi assumes it’s the kitchen, before turning to look at Meredith as the girl taps on one of her armoured gauntlets to get her attention.

“So,” the thief begins with a smirk. “You and Amber, huh?”

Vi starts a little, blinking rapidly. “Uh...me and her?”

“Oh don’t act coy, I could tell there was something going on a mile away! You shaking your head in the alley didn’t persuade me, you both clearly have _some_ sort of thing for each other.”

Vi finds herself growing oddly sheepish as she rubs the back of her head. “I mean, well, she’s certainly...pretty,” she admits, smiling a little. “And...I-“

“Your sheepishness is a clear sign, don’t worry about it,” Meredith laughs, shaking her head. “I was in your shoes at one point too.”

Vi’s head shot up at that. “You...you liked-”

“Mhm, when we were younger I had a...well, to be blunt, I did fancy Amber for a bit,” Meredith chuckles, and Vi notices her grow oddly bashful while talking. “But who could blame me, honestly? She’s gorgeous, and just add on a personality that rivals her appearance and you got...someone I fell hard for,” she snorts and shakes her head. 

“I’m...assuming you dropped your feelings, though?” Vi questions, propping her head on one hand as she regards Meredith.

“Oh, yeah, unfortunately for her and I we never would have worked out, I’m not exactly a star in the kingdom’s eye, the royal court would have an aneurysm if Amber tried to court me,” Meredith answers with a shrug. “Normally I’d say fuck the rules and that we could elope, but it’s...not something I imagine Amber doing. She wouldn’t be able to adapt to my lifestyle and I wouldn’t be able to adapt to hers, it’s unfortunate but…” she looks into Vi’s eye for a long moment, Vi searches for any emotion in the thief’s eyes, only to find a strong amount of warmth. “I’m glad she has you.”

Vi nods, smiling a little. “I’m...glad she has me, too,” she responds sheepishly. “As much as I am glad to have her.”

“Let me know when the marriage is due, I call best man,” Meredith teases, smirking a little as Vi rolls her eye.

“There won’t be any marriage outside of her and that bastard betrothed of hers if I can’t get him out of here,” Vi says dryly, huffing. “Though I suppose I can always be there to be her...secret lover if she ever so desires it, but knowing Amber I doubt she’d want to risk that with Drake about.”

“She cares about you,” Meredith nods, answering an unasked question. “And, as for Drake,” she sneers as she says his name, “I can’t get close to him alone, I’ve been tempted to go after his carriage when he leaves the castle but I’ve either missed the chance to or...realise me against likely two guards and what I can guess would be two other men outside of Drake wouldn’t end well for me.”

“Would getting rid of him without violence be a better idea, then?” Vi questions. “As much as I despise the idea of it, I just want him as far away from Amber as possible, and preferably away from me as well,” she adds with a scowl.

“No,” Meredith answers, and Vi does not like the sudden grave tone that laces the thief’s words. “Drake might be a pansy but he’s also reckless and power hungry, comes from the family he was born in, he’s a snake and will strike to kill if not given what he wants, I suppose you got to witness that first hand, hm?”

Vi nods, but before she can continue Meredith suddenly leans a bit closer, a serious look in her grey-blue eyes, a frown on her face.

“I’m gonna let you in on some info on Drake I know from personal experience, but you will not tell _anyone_ but Amber or Skylar this, okay?” 

Vi, eager to get any information at all, nods without question, and Meredith sits back a little, satisfied.

“Okay, so, if Amber hasn’t told you yet, I wasn’t born here in Aetheria, I’m not some citizen of Aendryr abandoned by her parents, nor am I from any of the other neighbouring cities adjoined with this kingdom,” Meredith sighs softly, tapping her fingers on the table as she furrows her brows as if not wanting to really talk about this. “I was born in Karewyth, the same kingdom Drake was born into.”

Vi’s eye widens a little, but she keeps her lips sealed so Meredith can continue talking.

“My parents were a Duke and Duchess there, and they loved rubbing it in, wanted me to be their heir and quickly began trying to implant their…” she huffs, “Ideals in me, you know the gist, how to act proper and all that, when in reality all I wanted to do was play knights against dragons with the boys next door, but that wasn’t ladylike so I wasn’t allowed to,” she grunts the last three words out, eyes narrowing as her fist clenches. “I got into so many fights with them, I hated them, didn’t want to be their perfect little lady that would likely just get sold off to one of the other royal or high-status boys for marriage, so I ran away when I was...what, twelve? Yeah. I snuck onto a carriage and hopped off here and I’ve been here since, Amber found me with an old maid friend of hers pickpocketing some man and for some reason the _Princess of Aetheria_ decided to befriend some lowly thief, but I suppose I’m grateful, otherwise I wouldn’t have met Skylar and her mom, and her mom let me sleep in the back when I was younger and still does in the winter, so yeah, guess I might owe Amber my life, God knows what I might have gotten into without her being around.”

Vi nods, though her brows furrow regardless. “That’s wonderful, really, but what does this have to do with Drak-”

“I’m getting to that! Patience, Vi, I was just giving you some backstory so you know about me since you’ll be seeing me more and more from now on,” Meredith laughs, holding her hands up. “But let me explain, around the time when I was planning on running away, Karewyth got hit with...a huge financial issue, to put it lightly. The king had grown a bit too cocky and kept spending money on war-related things, and sure, it led to a nice army, but it led to Karewyth’s people suffering from famine and poor health if you weren’t upper class,” she sighs heavily, “But the king didn’t care, all he cared about was his army and his stupid family, including Drake, but he knew damn well if he didn’t get coin soon his army would fall apart too, so he took to,” she snorts dryly. “He raided other kingdoms, stole from people, and because his army became piss poor from shitty weapons after a while since he kept losing men and women from making risky decisions, he lost the very thing other than his family he loved so dearly, and it cost his own people as well.”

Vi’s fists clench under the table, and her brow twitches a little. _‘Sounds scarily familiar to another kingdom I know,’_ she thinks worriedly. 

“So the king decided to marry his sons and daughters off to other kingdoms and keep his weak kingdom a secret because if he formed alliances with other kingdoms using his own children he might be able to rebuild what he broke. He married off all three until Drake was left, and I guess after I came here the king managed to score a deal with the king here in Aetheria, we are one of the stronger kingdoms after all,” Meredith continues, and Vi once again grows to dislike the grave tone once again lacing the thief’s words. “However, the king raised his sons to be power hungry lunatics, and that’s _exactly_ what Drake is, all he wants is the throne and to produce an heir himself can groom to become just like him and continue the cycle, so even if Drake gets kicked out of here…”

Vi’s blood runs cold. “He’ll still try to take over.”

“Mhm, all he has to do is either hold the princess hostage or simply kill the king and queen, or, honestly, do both. Once Lorelei and Joseph are gone, all Drake has to do is force Amber to marry him using some bribery or anything along those lines and then the throne is his, and, I bet, he’ll just end up doing exactly what his father did to Karewyth.”

“So he’s not a snake,” Vi growls, her fist now clenching with anger. “He’s a _leech._ ”

“Exactly,” Meredith smirks, moving her hands below the table. “And you know what you can do to leeches before they can feed off you?”

“Squish them,” Vi responds coolly, starting a little when Meredith’s hand shoots up from below the table and she slams a knife into the table sharply, the blade sticking up from where it’s embedded in the wood. 

“I prefer to crush them, but that works too,” she comments with a broad, almost excited smirk. “Which is something I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time, and, with you on my side, perhaps soon...that can be achieved, maybe?”

Vi eyes the knife in the table for a long while, though she doesn’t really even think about this one. She knows Amber told her not to risk her neck, but she feels even the princess would vouch for this at this point after what he’d caused. A broad, devious smirk grows on Vi’s lips as she looks up and meets Meredith’s gaze.

“Indeed it can,” she practically purrs, the idea of stabbing Drake with her dagger getting more and more appealing by the minute. “Let me get Amber on board, and I think you and I will have ourselves a little,” she chuckles softly, “Date, of sorts.”

Meredith snickers at that. “Now, now, don’t make me make Amber jealous! Keep it as a...playdate around her, I’m only a homewrecker if the maiden really doesn’t like who she’s with,” she jokes with a laugh. The joke makes Vi roll her eye in amusement.

“Once Drake is gone, you know, all I’ll have to work on is the king, then maybe Amber and I won’t grow grey hairs early dealing with insufferable men,” Vi comments, making Meredith’s brows raise in interest.

“Really? You’re gonna try to take the king out too, huh? Damn, aren’t you the ambitious one!” she comments. “How do you plan on knocking him off the chessboard, though?”

Vi smiles a bit, a chuckle leaving her throat. “Amber mentioned before that her mother will drop Joseph in seconds if she finds out the kingdom’s economy can stay stable without him around, so I’ve been trying to think of ways to expose that the kingdom could go on fine without him, but...all I can think of is stealing the financial record book they might have for the kingdom’s economy...however I wouldn’t know where that is.”

“Nor do I think you’d be able to steal it,” Meredith comments. “No offence, of course, but stealing from the castle isn’t easy, but as to where it might be...I’d reckon the king’s chambers, he wouldn’t do the records himself, he’d have a servant do them, so it’d be a room likely for his highest advisor, so...if I remember that one map of the castle a friend of mine in the guild had... a couple of doors to the right of the king’s room, I’d reckon.”

“Hold on,” Vi interjects, eye narrowing. “You have a map of the castle?” 

“Oh, me? No, but one of the leaders in this guild of thieves I am does, he lets me look at it from time to time if I’m planning to visit Amber since he updates it using scouts in the castle, pays them to give him updates on any new rooms and all that, you should expect some of the maids to be a bit corrupt,” Meredith snickers, before pausing when she seems to remember Vi was a knight. “Er, if you want my help, though, do me a favour and don’t spread that info, alright?”

Vi waves her hand dismissively. “Your secret is safe with me, I’ll need your help to steal this damn thing anyway, you think you might be able to get your hands on it?”

Meredith puts a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “Probably, I’ve done dangerous missions before, I doubt this will be much worse.”

“You expect payment for it or something? I’m sure I could-”

“No, no, I’ll do this for free,” Meredith shakes her head. “Look, normally I’d charge, but you’re Amber’s friend, and not only that but this is also to get that asshole out of here, if I can get him out of here it means my friends and I in the guild won’t risk getting our hands chopped off as punishment for being caught committing larceny, since, not only does he throw us in prison, he does that or cuts our fingers off if we’re caught.”

Vi grimaces. “Jesus Christ, you don’t-”

Meredith holds up her hands in an answer, and Vi sighs in relief when seeing all ten digits there. “He hasn’t caught me yet, don’t worry.”

“Good,” Vi mutters, the idea of seeing someone with missing fingers isn’t foreign to Vi, she’s seen a lot in her past, but it still wasn’t something she liked having to witness. “I think we’d need all of them for this job.”

Meredith snorts at that, though it fades back into a serious look moments after. “Just a warning, though, the planning for this? It could take me one to two months, I have to memorise the map, pay or bribe the scouts that guild leader has to help me figure out how many guards are, and just in general prep myself to steal something from that dangerous an area, plus, I want Drake out before the king, just in case he tries something.”

Vi nods. “No big deal, we take Drake out, then we focus on the king, right?” 

“Exactly,” Meredith nods in affirmation. “If I have any updates on info regarding both our...missions, I’ll either have Amber give you a letter, as I know how to sneak into her room, or I’ll meet you...uh...where do you sleep?”

“The barracks, in the very back, the window facing the stables,” Vi quickly states. “I should be there at night unless I get injured again,” she says, chuckling.

“Make sure you don’t, we don’t need you unable to kill the bastard, I’m thinking we go after him on his way out the next time he comes here to visit Amber and all that, does that sound reasonable?”

Vi nods. “I can get Amber on board by then,” she agrees. “I don’t want to do this without her knowing.”

“Understandable, but until then let’s keep quiet about this, alright, I don’t want-” Meredith pauses as she turns, noticing Amber heading back over. She turns to Vi and mouths “I’ll update you if anything else is needed later” before turning back to smile at Amber. “Hey, shorty! How was talking to your second mother?”

Amber rolls her eyes in amusement, sitting down in her previous seat. “Wonderful, and our food and drink will be out here in a bit, by the way,” she replies. “Did you two talk about anything interesting while I was gone?”

“Just bonding over our shared hatred over your stepfather and betrothed,” Vi snickers, and Amber snorts.

“I suppose that’s one way to bond,” she teases, smiling up at Vi as the knight smiles back at her. 

They engage in more small talk while waiting for their food and drink, and when it arrives most chatter dies so the two who ordered an actual meal, Vi and Amber, could eat. The alcohol plus venison Vi eats makes her feel good, and she grins broadly as they eventually get up and leave as evening arrives, knowing it’d be best to get home. They bid goodbye to Skylar and Meredith, Vi flashing the thief a knowing look as they turn to head back to the carriage.

“So,” Amber says, once they get back inside the carriage and it begins to move. “I hope you like my friends, I know at least Meredith can be...rather...herself,” she chuckles. 

Vi shrugs. “I dunno, Amb, I liked her quite a lot, Skylar, too, I can see why you hang out with them,” she states. “Meredith makes for some great conversation, actually.”

“Oh?” Amber raises a single brow in question. “And, do tell, what _were_ you both talking about? Surely something interesting enough for Mer to stab the table, I’d assume? Skylar looked like she was going to throttle her for that.”

Vi laughs at that, remembering the loud “MEREDITH, IF YOU DON’T PULL THAT GODDAMN KNIFE OUT OF MY TABLE I’LL FLOG YOU MYSELF,” and then raucous laughter that had left Meredith’s lips as she had turned and teasingly stuck her tongue out at the girl while slowly pulling her knife out of the table. “Mm,” she finally says. “We were...figuring our solutions to you and I’s...problems,” she says with a slight smile. “Sorry if I’m breaching orders, but I’m going to have to for this, I’m sick of you suffering, and as much as I care for you I’m not putting myself under the whip for beating up a man for trying to maim me.”

Amber’s smile fades a little, but she sighs, running a hand through her hair slowly. “Look,” she says after a long moment. “At this point, I don’t care what happens to either of them, just…” she looks at Vi and Vi’s eye widens, seeing what she thinks might be the most earnest look she’s ever seen in the princess’ blue eyes. “ _Please_ stay safe, okay? I don’t want to lose you, either of you.”

Vi grabs Amber’s hand and sets both their hands on the princess’ lap as she dips her head slightly. “I promise you I will keep my head attached to my shoulders, and I’ll _try_ to keep Meredith’s head where it is too, no promises on that regard, however.”

Amber smiles at that, a soft giggle leaving her lips. “Good, and...thank you,” she murmurs, sighing as she lifts up the hand Vi’s was holding, keeping her grip on the knight’s armoured hand. She presses her lips to the knuckles of Vi’s gauntlets and smiles against the metal as Vi blinks in surprise. “Don’t let me down.”

Vi blinks slowly at Amber, a soft, warm smile breaching her lips. 

“I won’t, I promise.”


	9. VIII - The Preparation

The next two months are the best months Amber’s had in a long, long while, in her opinion.

Most of her time is spent with Vi, whether they go into the clearing, trek through the town, or stay in the castle and chat or explore. Sure to her word, Amber had taught Vi some piano in exchange for the knight taking time out of their day to dance with her in the ballroom that the piano was housed in. Vi wasn’t stellar at it, Amber had to be honest, but she wasn’t the worst at it for someone who had just begun to play.

Though, a part of Amber felt like Vi wasn’t really in it to learn and was really in it because she got to sit next to Amber on the bench or have Amber place her hands over her own to help guide her around the keys. It was only a hunch, though, but it made Amber grin at the thought of it, her heart fluttering at the mere idea of the knight wanting to do something just to have physical contact with her.

It was March now, so not only was it spring now, but it also happened to be a special day today, or, special for Amber. It was her birthday, not that her stepfather had seemed to notice, and with her knowing Drake would be at the celebratory banquet and ball they were having tonight (One, she knew for a fact, was really just so her stepfather could show off), her mood wasn’t as high as one might expect. Her run-ins with the prince since Vi’s unfair punishment had been horrid, to say the least, but Amber at least enjoyed the sight of the large, jagged scar crossing diagonally across the boy’s face. It managed to make him somehow look even worse than he had before.

He’d gotten so angry once at Amber for making snide comments about his face during one meeting he’d raised his hand sharply as if to strike her, though all Vi had to do was clear her throat and tighten her hand’s grip on the hilt of her blade to get him to back off. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the knight at least made him nervous, if not frightened him entirely. 

Speaking of whom, Amber jumps a little as the door to the ballroom creams open, her hands pausing on the keys to the piano she’d been mindlessly playing as she thought. Vi pokes her head in, blinking as she spots Amber, an almost relieved grin appearing on her face as she enters the room, shutting it behind her.

“I almost assumed you’d snuck off again like that one time a month or so ago,” the knight chuckles, heading over as Amber turns to face her. She stops at the piano, leaning against it slightly as she gazes down at Amber. “A note on your door or within your room would’ve been appreciated.”

“I have to keep you on your toes somehow,” Amber teases, an amused smirk appearing on her face as Vi rolls her eye. “Besides, if I recall correctly, you’re late by an hour.”

“Forgive me, your highness, but it is your birthday and I wanted to get you a gift,” Vi says dramatically, an over-exaggerated haughty tone to her words. “If you’re going to be snooty then I won’t let you have it.”

Amber snorts, rolling her eyes. “Never said I was mad about it, I won’t crucify you for being tardy,” she retorts, batting her eyelashes as she looks up at Vi, setting the guard over the piano keys so she could rest her elbows on the piano, putting her chin in her hands. “Now,” she says, coquettishly, “humour me, what is my gift?”

Vi smirks slightly, a glint sparkling in her single eye. “Nothing you’re insinuating with that tone of yours, princess,” she teases. “Well, unless you _really_ want that, can’t say I’d be opposed.”

Amber’s face darkens and she looks to the side, huffing. “Keep dreaming,” she murmurs softly, thanking God that her fluttering heartbeats weren’t audible. 

“Alright, alright, enough teasing, here,” Vi laughs, snapping Amber back to attention as she looks back up at the knight. Vi reaches into the large pouch she’d tied to her pelt, like the one she had used to bring the apples to her room a month ago, and pulls out a lengthy box, handing it to Amber gently. “Thank God, too, that was heavier than I thought it’d be to lug about.”

Amber’s brows furrow at the weight of the box. It wasn’t heavy to the point where Amber was having trouble holding it, though there was a weight to it. “I’d imagine it jostling around also wasn’t too great for you, hm?”

“Indeed,” Vi nods with a chuckle, eyeing Amber as she undoes the tie on top of the box, tossing it aside as she opens the box, eyes widening at its contents.

Inside is the same ornate dagger she’d pointed out in the blacksmith’s shop, held inside a shiny dark brown leather sheath. She blinks rapidly, lips parting slightly in shock as she slowly looks back up at Vi.

“I know you said you weren’t allowed to have a dagger but you seemed so drawn to it back in the village I couldn’t just _not_ buy it,” Vi explains, shrugging as she offers Amber a sheepish smile. “Besides, with the people you’ve had to handle being around, you should have one.”

Amber nods slightly, hating that she was getting _emotional_ over a blade of all things. She pulls the sheathed blade out of the box and sets it aside, holding it close to herself. “I love it,” she whispers. “You’re so considerate, really, I’ll keep it close and hidden so Joseph doesn’t find it, but I really, really love y-“ she pauses, blanching for a moment, wishing she could bite her tongue. “It.”

If Vi had noticed the slip-up in words, she doesn’t show it, much to Amber’s relief, beaming in absolute glee as she regards Amber’s face. “I’m so glad! I was worried I might have slipped up, actually, but seeing you so happy over this just makes me even happier.”

A giggle leaves Amber’s lips as she looks at the straps on the sheathe. “You’re cute.”

Vi immediately stiffens, eye widening for a second before it narrows. “No, no, _you’re_ cute, not me. I’m tough and intimidating, cute is the opposite of me, cute _wishes_ it were me.”

“Your vehement denial only makes you cuter,” Amber argues, smirking as Vi pouts.

“Oh, hush!” she groans. “Besides, we have better things to focus on instead of who’s cute and who's not, I’d like to focus on seeing where to put that dagger belt on you,” Vi adds, reaching out so Amber can take her hand and stand. 

“Now? I’m not sure a dress is the best to hold a dagger outside of around the waist,” Amber tilts her head as she gestures toward her waist. Vi chuckles.

“True, but you could…” she pauses as she scans up and down the princess’ body. “You could probably hide it around your thigh under your dress, but grabbing it might be a bit...difficult without a slit in the dress.”

“Well if I want to have it on me that may be my only option, wearing it around my waist is a key way to getting it taken by a certain king,” Amber responds with a huff. “I suppose I’ll have to settle with having to shuffle about awkwardly to pull my blade out for defence, at least the movements I make to grab it might amuse my enemy enough to distract them,” she adds with an amused look in her eyes. 

“That..is likely not how it’ll go down but the thought does make me chuckle,” Vi responds, reaching to take the dagger and sheath. “Would you like me to put it on you, then? I can show you how to do it yourself so you know for later, though if you’d like to figure it out yourself or do it in your room that is fine too.”

Amber pauses for a moment in thought. “Let’s...go to my room so I can try first, if I can’t get it done I’ll let you do it,” she answers finally, the idea of Vi’s hands being so close to her thigh making her face flush pink. “I’d rather not risk someone catching us in such a...position.”

Vi snickers at that. “I suppose I can understand that, might give us a few odd looks, hm?

“A few is an understatement,” Amber responds with a soft laugh as Vi begins to lead her toward the doors.

“You want me to hold the blade? So your stepfather doesn’t take it?” Vi asks, turning her head slightly to glance at Amber. Amber furrows her brows in thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“He shouldn’t be around the hallway we’ll be going down, and if we do see him we’ll just say it’s yours and I’m holding it for you.”

Vi nods, opening the door. “Alright, if you say so, but if that dagger gets taken from you don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Amber snickers as they head into the hallway, grinning to walk alongside each other. “I won’t, don’t worry.”

They walk for a few moments in silence, Amber running her fingers over the sheathed weapon in her hands. She’d never gotten to use one before, nor had she ever used any weapon, really. Meredith has taught her basic knife and dagger skills for fun when they had hung out in the past, so she knew how to hold one and do some basic slashes, though she wouldn’t say she was well versed in the subject. A part of her hoped Vi might teach her something, the idea of getting to spend time with Vi in a way that most likely would result in physical contact making her giddy.

Had there been any other circumstance they were both in, Amber wouldn’t be savouring moments where she and the knight were together or touching, however with her marriage coming sooner and sooner and with Vi and Meredith keeping relatively quiet about their plans, she felt...almost wrong confronting how she felt. Trapping Vi in a dangerous position wasn’t something Amber wanted, and them being in a relationship would likely spawn that situation for the knight, which made Amber shudder a little. It pained the princess greatly to keep things hidden, but she knew it was likely for the best. 

“So,” Vi starts, snapping Amber out of her thoughts. “You excited about the banquet tonight? Or was it a ball? Some sort of party, I would assume?”

Amber nods. “It’s just food and dancing and conversing, ball is the term I would use but the king is using banquet,” she explains. “And...to be utterly honest, no, I am not, but that’s only because everyone’s least favourite toddler is going to be there.”

Vi snorts loudly, nearly doubling over from laughter. “True, but I’ll be there, kind of a requirement, so if he tries anything you know where I’ll be.”

“Not getting yourself into trouble, I’d hope,” Amber remarks in response, giving Vi a knowing look as she smirks. The knight pretends to act offended at that, placing a hand over her heart as her lips curl into a pout, but before she can open her mouth to respond a door creaks from the hallway they just passed and Vi’s mouth snaps shut as she halts, turning as voices ring out. 

Amber pauses too, furrowing her brows as Vi stops, and as she catches the voices nearby she immediately recognises them both, her face blanching as her lips flatten into a fine line. 

_‘Fuck, that’s Drake and his advisor, I forgot he got here last night! Damn it all!’ she curses in her head. ‘I’m in a good mood now thanks to Vi, I refuse to let him ruin it, if we run maybe we can slip into my chambers before he notic-’_

Amber’s jolted out of her thoughts when Vi suddenly grabs her wrist and tugs her a bit roughly. She’s so jarred and shocked at first she hardly realises what’s happening as Vi pulls both Amber and herself into the room closest to them, a small closet the maids used to hold supplies for cleaning or otherwise. She shuts the door surprisingly gently for how roughly she was moving prior, and Amber swallows down a grunt as she loses her sight in the dark and she realises how cramped it is with the two of them wedged in the tiny closet.

“Vi, what in God’s name are you-”

_“Shhh!”_ Vi hisses softly, and Amber squeaks in indignation as Vi places a hand over her mouth. “Wait, I want to hear what they’re talking about, and besides, I think we’d both rather not risk having to talk to them!”

Amber’s brows furrow as she glares at where she assumes Vi is, but she nods after a moment, only really annoyed with how cramped the closet was. Vi’s clunky armour wasn’t helping at all, and it makes Amber almost wish Vi hadn’t had to go to the town because of it, knowing she was only wearing heavier armour than usual because she went out into public. She grunts as something she can’t see on the shelf beside them in the closet jabs her in the arm and she shifts herself a little to try and get at least a bit more comfortable as Vi removes her hand from her mouth and wraps that free arm around her waist to secure her better, and it’s then when she realises two things about their predicament at the moment.

One, due to how small the closet was and how much things were already in it, Amber was pressed flush up against Vi, to the point where their legs were practically tangled. Vi clearly hadn’t planned this, and the girl had likely lost her balance a little when trying to shove the both of them into the closet, as she was leaning over Amber a bit. Amber’s cheek was pressed up against the breastplate of Vi’s armour when she had so much as moved a little bit, and she could feel Vi’s hair tickle her jaw a little, so she assumed the girl’s head was awkwardly positioned a few inches above her own. 

And two, due to, as mentioned prior, them being so awkwardly positioned together, when Amber had moved she’d realised that Vi’s legs were splayed awkwardly so she could keep her balance so that she wouldn’t fall on Amber, however, due to how close Amber was to Vi at the moment, the positioning and placement of one of Vi’s legs, almost comically close to being in between her own legs, left Amber in an incredibly awkward position, feeling the steel armour covering the limb brush the inner side of Amber’s left leg, sending shivers up her spine as she gets on her tiptoes _just_ in case anymore movements send the limb any higher, something Amber did not need right now.

As she tries to keep herself from anymore unneeded mortification, Amber hears muffled voices outside the door, and, as if anything else about this situation could get anymore coincidental, the two stop outside the closet for a moment to talk. 

“As I said prior,” a voice of an older man rings out, the advisor, Amber quickly recognises. “You are absolutely not to start another fight like you did a month prior, your father has already expressed his annoyance over that...blemish on your face, and you will be around your soon to be subjects tonight, you cannot risk your reputation as of now.”

Drake’s voice is easy to pick out, it’s loud and snobbish, and carries a whiny undertone to it. “Fine, as long as that whore of a guard doesn’t start anything first,” he grunts, and Amber nearly shoves the door open into Drake’s face before Vi’s grip around her waist tightens to keep her steady. “I swear, as soon as we’re wedded I’m having her guard taken out and replaced with one of my own of my choosing, any person that scars my skin should have a punishment more worse than a simple lashing of all things.”

“That guard is of her mother’s personal choosing, you might not get that choice until you are crowned king, your highness,” The advisor reminds Drake. 

“Won’t be long after our marriage, then,” Drake chuckles ominously, making Amber’s blood turn to ice. “I cannot wait to see the look on father’s face when I am crowned king only say...a month, if I time it right, after our wedding. All I have to do is take out the king and queen, shouldn’t be too hard, food poisoning always is such a...sudden way to die, hm?”

Amber doesn’t realise she’s shaking with rage until she feels Vi gently squeeze her waist, and she bites her lip to prevent herself from speaking, knowing all she’d say was curse after curse upon the boy’s name. 

_‘You just try and poison my mother and give me a reason to bloody this dagger, I dare you.’_ she threatens in her head, brows furrowing.

“Let’s not talk about this when staff could be working nearby, sire,” the advisor says in response. “Whether your plan happens or not it won’t happen if you’re stuck on the end of a chopping block or in the dungeons.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Drake responds grouchily. “Whatever, the ball is tonight, as much as it annoys me to have to dance with that nightmare of a betrothed I have I’ll do it so father doesn’t throw a fit, she’s very lucky she’s nice to look at.”

“I’d advise you hold your tongue if you’re going to keep making cruel comments until we are out of this kingdom, sire.”

“Hmph,” Amber hears Drake huff. “She says them to me, she can handle a few toward her tonight. Birthday or not, she’s a right cunt and she should be reminded of that.”

“Yes, well, you’re _marrying_ her, so I’d wish you’d at least try to _act_ a bit cordial, the kingdom will want to welcome a _kind_ new prince, not one that insults his own wife.”

“Once we marry I won’t have to deal with her being a cunt considering I’ll be able to strike her when I want her mouth shut, and she’ll make due to listen to me,” Drake responds, his voice dripping with annoyance. This time, Amber has to grab the arm Vi was holding against the door to keep her from surging out of the closet, the knight barely biting back a snarl of rage at the comment.

“Of course, your highness,” the advisor seems to sigh in exasperation, and to Amber’s relief he begins to hear their voices fade as they begin to walk again. “Now, come along, we need to get you all ready for tonight.”

Vi and Amber both wait a while before moving, as if expecting the prince to suddenly rip the door open if they so much as murmured a word. As they wait, Vi groans softly and begins to shift, and Amber hisses softly as she feels cold metal through the thin material of her dress near her lower thigh, not realising she’d lowered from her previously tip-toed state.

Vi catches the noise, and though Amber can’t see her she assumes Vi was tilting her head. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, angry, but fine,” Amber responds. “You just brushed your leg against my thigh is all, and your armour is cold so it shocked me.”

Vi doesn’t speak for a long moment, and Amber hears her intake sharply as she seems to finally realise the positioning of her legs, the one that had brushed against Amber’s moments prior being dangerously close to being in an area any other person would label as intimate. She immediately feels Vi lean over her for a moment, and, surprised, Amber tilts her head up, almost expecting the knight to cup her face and possibly even kiss her, and expresses disappointment when she doesn’t, leaning over her to actually grab the knob of the door and twist it clumsily, opening the door.

“I apologise for uh,” Vi chuckles awkwardly. “My leg’s placement, it must have a mind of its own,” she jokes, which involuntarily makes Amber giggle.

“Your leg must have the courtesy of any gentleman, then,” she teases, turning Vi’s chuckles into a snort of laughter as she gently helps Amber out of the cramped closet. As Vi turns to shut the door, however, Amber glares down the hallway where Drake had gone, her mood souring.

“That bastard…” she mutters, clenching her fists. “I suppose that settles it, then,” she adds with a soft sigh, turning to look up at Vi. 

Vi tilts her head a little as she frowns and regards Amber. “Oh?”

“His fate is sealed,” Amber responds, a pained smile appearing on her face. “He has to die, whether by your hands, Meredith’s hands, or anyone else’s, I’d make it my own if I could but…” she scowls and looks away for a moment. “As much as I hate to admit it he’d easily overpower me, combat training isn’t something I was given and I have little to no muscle.”

Vi, despite the rough situation, chuckles much to Amber’s surprise, laying a hand on her shoulder gently. “Well, I have the muscle to make up for that,” she murmurs, as Amber’s gaze moves up to the knight’s eye. “He’s not going to get what he wants, I promise you that.”

“Good,” Amber nods, smiling a bit at Vi as she nods. “I’m glad.”

“Now, last I checked you also need to get ready for tonight, correct?”

Amber scowls at that, groaning as if she suddenly had lost all the energy in her body. “Indeed,” she confirms. “I’ll need to call some maids up to help me get prepared, let’s predict how much makeup I’ll have to wear, hm? I predict so many layers I’ll be near unrecognizable.”

Vi smirks at that. “You know, I could help you get ready,” she offers, partially without thinking, causing Amber to whirl around to look up at her, shocked. “I wasn’t born under a rock, Amber, I know how to apply makeup, and I’ve tied your corsets for you more than twice now, you’ll look ravishing when I’m done with you.”

The double entendre makes Vi grow a bit warm in the face, having not meant to say it that way for once, though the look on Amber’s face because of it makes her grin as the princess nods almost immediately.

“If you think you can, it’d certainly help, I’m more comfortable with your presence anyways,” Amber shrugs, beginning to head down the hall toward her chambers. “Though if you feel like you need help, let me know, I can call someone in at any moment.”

She hears Vi begin to follow her as she walks a few more feet, soon joining Amber by her side as they head into her chambers, Vi opening the door to her room for her before they go inside.

“So...what do they normally do first?” Vi starts, raising a brow. “I would assume dressing you would be the first thing, we’d risk messing your hair up by doing it first.”

“Mm, close,” Amber responds, smiling slightly bashfully now. “First thing I need to do is bathe and wash my hair, then we do makeup, then I get dressed, then we do my hair,” she explains. “That way we can give my hair enough time to dry.”

“Ah, I see- wait, we’ll need to draw you a bath, then, which requires-”

“I had the staff begin to heat up water and bring it up when I had lunch, the process heating up the water and bringing it here to fill that damn tub up would have taken more than an hour, if not hot it’ll be warm still,” Amber interrupts with a small smile. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this, Vi.”

Vi blinks at Amber slowly before nodding. “Right,” she starts, chuckling awkwardly, as Amber heads toward the small entranceway into the bath area. “Just making sure,” she adds. “I’ll just wait out here for you, then.”

Amber pauses at the entrance of the small hall, turning to glance at Vi with a bashful smile. “Actually...I was hoping you’d offer to help comb my hair out,” she asks, fully turning now as she looks to the side shyly. “I-I can do it myself, of course, but-”

“I’d love to!” Vi says, way too quickly and way too enthusiastically, apparently, because the look on Vi’s face afterwards, almost appearing as if the words had left her lips before she could have thought of another response, nearly makes Amber giggle. She blanches for a moment before quickly regaining her bearings as she fixes Amber with a sly smirk. “Hope this isn’t a ploy of yours to reveal yourself to me, though, you know you can always ask-”

“If you keep reading it _that way_ then I will call a servant in to do it for me,” Amber jokingly threatens, making Vi laugh.

“I can’t make you any promises in that regard,” the knight responds smoothly, and Amber chuckles as she shakes her head and turns to head toward the bath, Vi following. She reaches behind herself and unties the tie to her dress clumsily, feeling the gown slowly begin to slip down her shoulders, and she quickly adjusts it so it doesn’t fall past her sternum as she turns to look at Vi.

“I think I recall a little princess like yourself telling me that modesty did not matter to you,” Vi teases as she raises a brow. “Seems like she lied.”

Amber snorts dryly. “I seem to recall that same knight having three open wounds on her back that needed cleaning,” she shoots back, smirking as Vi rolls her eye. “Besides, like that same knight said, I don’t particularly care about modesty,” she adds letting go of the part of the dress she’d been holding. The entire top part slowly fell down to her waist, and Amber huffs as she slowly pulls the rest of the dress down to her ankles before kicking it off. 

Vi’s lips were pulled into a fine line as she seemingly forced herself to keep her eye fixated on Amber’s face, much to the princess’ amusement. She smiles innocently at Vi before turning to step into the tub, once submerged up to her sternum turning to look over at Vi, who hadn’t moved from her spot, blinking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Well?” Amber starts, raising a brow. “What’s wrong? Having second thoughts?”

That seems to snap Vi out of it as she immediately shakes her head, moving over to pull the stool near the tub close so she can sit, huffing softly. “No,” she responds. “Just...thinking.”

“About what?” Amber muses, turning to look at Vi. The water was warm as she predicted, not extremely warm, but it wouldn’t grow cold in the amount of time Amber meant to use it.

“You’re pretty,” Vi responds with a smile, meeting Amber’s blue gaze as the princess’ face immediately grows hot. 

“So you did look at more than my face, then?” she whispers, tilting her head, not noticing Vi fill a ladle with water beside her.

Vi smirks, raising the tool above Amber’s head. “No,” she whispers. “Just your face,” she adds, tilting the ladle of water over onto Amber’s head before she could respond. Amber, having not noticed it, immediately sputters as water streams into her eyes and face, her nose screwing up as she goes to cover her eyes and rub them.

“Charming,” Amber eventually mutters, water dripping off her jaw as she rolls her eyes at Vi, though she manages a sweet smile regardless. “Which I suppose is a trait befitting of you.” 

“Indeed,” Vi nods in agreement, gently resting a hand on Amber’s shoulder so she could turn her around. Amber turns so her back faces Vi, allowing the taller girl to continue pouring water on her hair until it was thoroughly soaked. Once it is, Vi grabs a comb from one of the shelves nearby, beginning to run it through Amber’s hair slowly. Her hair isn’t very messy today, so, to Amber’s relief, there aren’t many tangles to comb out.

“I know tonight might be absolute hell for you,” Vi murmurs as she works the comb through Amber’s hair. “But know I’ll be there if he tries anything.”

“If he tries anything he’ll have more than an ugly scar to worry about,” Amber growls in response, eyes narrowing immediately. “The comments he made on my moth-”

“I know, that’s why he won’t be alive for much longer,” Vi interrupts, sighing. “Meredith wasn’t lying when she said he was a parasite,” she huffs, her breath hitting the back of Amber’s neck, making Amber shiver a little. “But, luckily for us, he’s an easily removable one,” she adds, snickering as she moves back, passing a bar of soap to the princess. “Here, I’m not doing all the work for you.”

Amber laughs at that. “I didn’t ask you to,” she retorts, washing her body as Vi moves back. When she tries to wash her back by herself, she hears Vi laugh before leaning back over herself to help her. Feeling Vi’s hands brush her bare back makes Amber immediately begin to blush and bite her lip, and she’s thankful Vi isn’t facing her because of it. She allows it, though, internally liking the knight’s touch.

Once finished, Vi goes to grab a towel for Amber and hands it to her as she gets out, and Amber wraps it around herself, gasping as Vi comes back over after a moment with another towel, pulling Amber close as she gently pats her head with it to dry it slightly so she wouldn’t drip water all over the floor.

“I’ll go get you a chemise,” the knight murmurs as she playfully drops the towel on Amber’s head, covering her eyes in the process. Amber huffs and claws at the towel, pulling it off of her, the one around her body coming loose in the process to the princess’ dismay. She tosses the one in her hands aside as she goes to wrap the other towel around her again, sticking her tongue out at Vi as she reappears a few moments later with a chemise in her hands. Amber pulls it on without another word, suddenly throwing the towel at Vi’s face in retaliation before sprinting out of the bathroom, giggling loudly as she hears Vi yell out something before heavy steel-plated footsteps follow her.

Surprisingly enough, at least to Amber, Vi catches up fast, Amber making it halfway into her room before strong arms suddenly wrap around her waist, hoisting Amber into the air as the princess squeals and kicks her legs out a couple of times, giggles bubbling out of her lips.

“I’ve got you, you little goblin!” the knight snickers, spinning Amber around as Amber bursts into even more laughter, turning in Vi’s arms so she could face the knight, who hoists her up easily by the back of her thighs. Facing Vi, now, the knight slows down, her single eye meeting Amber’s blue ones as she smiles warmly, almost lovingly at the princess, Amber returning the gesture almost immediately, her forehead mere centimetres from Vi’s own as she breathes in and out slowly to regain her breath.

“We should just stay here, in my room,” Amber says eventually, cupping Vi’s face in her hands as her eyes glitter with pure mirth, a broad smile on her lips. “Who cares about a banquet, a dance, whatever, when I’ve got all I want right here?” she adds, the look on her face growing earnest as she regards Vi, who blinks up at her in slight surprise. 

The smile on Vi’s face grows, though dies down after a moment as she sighs and shakes her head. “I’d love to, Amber, really,” she murmurs. “But you know we can’t, your father would throw a fit, and Drake might throw one even worse,” she sighs, as her smile grows more regretful. “Otherwise I would just stay here with you all night if you wanted.”

The implications make Amber’s entire face grow warm, and she curses herself for letting her mind wander that route in her head, her heart hammering in her chest. “Once Drake is gone there’s no stopping you from doing that, my stepfather be damned,” she whispers, a part of her urging to close the short distance between them. She instead presses her forehead against Vi’s, making the knight’s breath hitch.

“You have no idea how much I’d like that-” Vi starts, being interrupted by a sharp knock at the door, making Amber start as Vi immediately sets her down. Amber curses audibly, her brows furrowing angrily as she stalks over to the door, not even opening it. 

“Yes?” she barely keeps herself from hissing, her tone curt and sharp.

“I-I was just coming to see if you needed help getting ready, your highness,” a soft voice responds through the door, making Amber groan softly, feeling bad for snapping immediately.

“I er-” she pauses, glancing at Vi, who blinks at her, seemingly still shocked a little from the exchange they’d had only moments ago. “I have someone in here helping me, don’t worry, just go er...take a break, my orders,” she quickly stammers out, not caring as the person talking through the door gasps a little as she turns around. “Good day to you,” she adds quickly, before moving back over to Vi.

“I hate to say it,” Vi murmurs as Amber stands before her. “But she has a point, you need to get ready.”

“And what if I order you not to get me ready?” Amber challenges, raising a brow as she smiles teasingly.

“You won’t because not only do you hate ordering me around, but you also know that if you order me not to help you get ready you’ll have to call someone else in to help you, last I checked you can’t tie a corset on your own.”

Amber groans at that, scowling half-heartedly as she nods. “I hate that you’re right,” she grumbles with a huff, turning to head toward the chair set in front of the vanity table by her dresser. She sits down with a frown, crossing her arms across her chest like a child as she pouts up at Vi. “You’re lucky I like you so much.”

“I’d have to say the same for you, Amb,” Vi responds, chuckling. “You do realise I also have to get myself ready too, right? So we need to hurry, I can’t be too late, I have to be there to make sure our favourite pain in the ass doesn’t try anything with you.”

“Favourite is a strong word,” Amber responds dryly, pushing back the chair a little so Vi could position herself in front of her. “And...please, for our sakes, don’t put too much on my face, it’s a pain enough to get on, it’s a pain to get it off too.”

“I could wipe it off you with a firm rub of my thumb,” Vi argues with a shake of her head. “You’re just looking for excuses for me to not cover you in layers upon layers of makeup, which, lucky for you, I’m merciful enough to not do to you,” she adds with a knowing smirk, turning to grab something off the table before turning back around. “Just a bit of foundation, some rogue, and something for your lips, if anyone asks we’ll just pretend we were rushed.”

Amber’s brows furrow. “How come you know so much about this?” she questions, her breath hitching as Vi moves close to her face to begin applying everything. “Something else from your past, I would assume?”

Vi’s eye moves from Amber’s face as she pauses for a moment to meet her gaze. “Indeed, I used to have to apply makeup myself, or have servants do it for me if I wasn’t feeling up to it,” she explains. “I wasn’t one for...heavy amounts but I did like some of it, especially makeup for your lips,” she shrugs after that before continuing. 

Amber had hardly heard a word Vi had uttered, the girl too focused on Vi’s face being so close to her own. Her eyes were fixated on Vi’s single blue one as she focused on Amber’s face, moving back after a few long moments only to nod and grab something else, Amber wasn’t focusing at all, nor did she really care, knowing she trusted Vi’s every move. The urge to surge forward once again whelmed in Amber’s gut, and this time she barely held it back, her entire body jolting a little as she felt something soft against her lips, though much to her disappointment and embarrassment she let out a soft disgruntled sigh when she realised it was just a brush. Vi catches it, and though her brow quirks, she says nothing on it.

As the brush leaves Amber’s lips she forces herself not to draw her tongue over them, knowing exactly what would occur if she did. The materials used to make makeup for lips tasted horrible, she’d slipped up before when she was younger, and knew it was best to let it dry off.

Vi moves to the side slightly so Amber can see herself in the mirror. “There, do you like that? I can always try and apply more rouge, it might be a little less than you like-”

Amber beams, smiling at herself in the mirror. She hated makeup, if she were to be utterly honest, as she found it pointless and a waste of time most the time, but the way Vi had applied it made her happier than she expected she would be, and she turns to face Vi with a genuinely pleased look on her face.

“I love it,” she interrupts, slowly standing as she regards Vi’s now smiling face. 

“Good, I was a bit worried you might not like it, not that I’m not good at this or anything,” Vi responds, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “I just...don’t normally do it to other people.”

“Well, I don’t look like a jester, so I’d say you did wonderfully. It’ll be easy to take off once tonight is over, too, if I don’t collapse in bed and fall asleep immediately.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t Vi laughs, as Amber smiles genuinely at her before turning to go over to her wardrobe. She opens the two doors slowly, peering inside as she begins to sift through hung-up gowns, trying to pick one. Amber didn’t really care what she wore, but she knew her parents would, so, to her displeasure, she knew she’d have to wear something that wasn’t leisure based.

Vi peers over her shoulder unbeknownst to Amber as she searches, the knight’s eye scanning the many dresses within the wardrobe. Amber’s gone about halfway through when the knight suddenly speaks, nearly scaring the living daylights out of her despite being so familiar with Vi’s voice.

“I like that one,” she comments, pointing toward a red-and-white dress. There was golden stitching on some parts of it. 

“You only like that one because red is your favourite colour,” Amber smiles smugly as she turns to regard Vi. “But it is pretty, I will admit, so I’ll consider it.”

“I’m not sure how long we have for you to consider-” Vi starts, being interrupted by a loud clanging noise, one Amber realises, with dread, to be the clock bell, and the number of chimes that rang out after a long moment of silence told Amber all she needed to know. 

“We have an hour, maybe an hour and a half before the ball,” Amber whispers, looking up at Vi. “You need to go get ready.”

“What? But what about-”

“I’ll call a servant to help me get the rest done, you _have_ to go get ready, Vi, go! I’ll meet you in the ballroom, we’ll find each other, we always do.”

Vi nods, slowly beginning to back up toward the door. “I will see you in the ballroom, whether you’re with Drake or not, I’ll be there, promise,” she informs Amber, dipping her head to her before she grabs the handle of the door, opens it, and heads out. Amber hears her boots stomp on the floor outside as she likely runs off toward the barracks to get ready, and she sighs softly in relief.

“Well,” she starts, turning as she glances back at the wardrobe. “At least I can surprise her with my appearance, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back after a short break! Chapters might post a bit infrequently from this point, and I think this one is shorter than the others but it's necessary. If I combined this one and the ballroom scene about to happen after this plus the scene that connects to it afterwards it'd be WAY too long, lmao.
> 
> Also, this is my basic idea for the dress Vi picked out - https://i.pinimg.com/236x/0c/cd/e1/0ccde1f992cb92a36816b8c881e1ca86--pagan-colonial.jpg   
> Is it medieval? Maybe not but it's cute so if it's not medieval enough for you just...take that colour scheme and do with it what you wish.
> 
> I'm always open for questions, don't feel afraid to ask 'em!
> 
> Next up; a short Vi POV, but the rest of the chapter will be in Amber's POV again! You'll like the reason why, don't worry! We're going to have a sweet ballroom dance, some planning with our resident thief, and something that's been needed to be said for a while coming up next chapter!


	10. IX - The Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a forewarning! There's smut at the end of this chapter, but skipping it won't affect the plot at all, you'll know when it starts and the dashed lines at the end will tell you when it ends. Just in case I have any readers who aren't a fan of sex scenes.

Vi, unfortunately, enters the ballroom a bit late. Fashionably late, in her head, though likely just late in any other person in the room’s opinion.

As Amber had said, she had only an hour to prepare, and quickly washing herself off in the river had taken a good thirty minutes of her time. Preparing her hair and getting into a different set of attire and doing her hair had also taken time, not wearing the armour she was used to this time. With it being a formal event, especially one that required dancing, Vi knew armour likely wasn’t the way to go this time. She could dance in light armour decently, though it still made her movements stilted and clunky at times, plus the chainmail would usually make noise, something likely nobody wanted to have to deal with. 

She enters the ballroom without much a care about anyone’s stares, immediately searching for Amber, her gaze narrowed as she stalks the perimeter of the cluster of people. She thinks she sees a flash of strawberry blonde hair through a gap of partygoers at one point, though it disappears as quickly as it comes, making Vi scowl. 

_‘If she wasn’t so short, this wouldn’t be so difficult, I’d bet,’_ she thinks with a snort, narrowing her eye thoughtfully when she hears the outskirts of the crowd whispering.

“Seems like the betrothed royals might not like each other that much tonight,” one murmurs to who Vi assumes is their partner, a short woman in blue. She giggles beside the man clad in green beside her, a glass in her hand.

“The look the princess gave him for touching her waist could kill if it were granted that ability, she’s probably just in some mood.”

“With how much a brat I hear she is, likely over something minor, like a hair accessory or something,” the man beside her sniggers, choking on his drink, however, when Vi passes him and roughly elbows him in the small of his back, a scowl on her lips. She continues to look around, about to just push her way through the crowd to find her, when someone suddenly grabs the collar of her suit and tugs her backwards sharply. Vi’s eye widens and as soon as she’s able to rip herself free she immediately whirls around, her hand going to the hilt of the sword on her hip, though it pauses once she realises who it is, blinking once in surprise.

“You look good, Vi!” Meredith starts, smiling as she moves back to lean up against one of the large pillars in the ballroom. “I expected something more…”

“Something like a full set of armour?” Vi responds, relaxing as she smiles slightly. “No, not tonight, there’s enough guards here as there is and I felt like surprising a certain princess, not that I...know where she is.”

“Dancing with Prince Asshole,” Meredith answers for her, rolling her eyes. “You wouldn’t have even had any time to say a word to her, as soon as Amber entered with her mother he practically dragged her onto the floor to dance, I’m thinking he just wants to get this over with so he can go back to brooding or flirting with other girls.”

Vi huffs in annoyance. “Or planning on how to kill the king and queen,” she replies, making Meredith’s brows raise a little. “Yeah, we found out that little tidbit earlier today, the bastard is going to try and kill off the two after he and Amber get married so-”

“So he can take over as king, Jesus Christ,” Meredith groans, shaking her head. “I’m assuming that didn’t make Amber very happy.”

“Not at all, I had to stop her from jumping out of the closet we were hiding in to listen at one point because of how angry she got. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Amber so angry before.”

Meredith nods, sighing as she wrings her hands together in thought. “Sometime tonight we need to pull her aside to help plan this out, she’s not going to like the fact that it’s going to take another month for this plan to roll out.”

“Wait, what?!” Vi’s eye widens as she exclaims that. “Another month?! He’s here now! We could take him tomorrow when he leaves!”

Meredith snorts at that, something that surprises Vi, who squints at the thief as she shakes her head, running her fingers through her messy black hair. “Yeah, sure we can, if you want to be on the chopping block that afternoon,” she responds. “Vi, this is a highly important event, there are royals _everywhere_ here,” she starts, gesturing around the ballroom. “The ways carriages use to leave or enter the castle and the kingdom are going to be more highly guarded than ever, we’d be lucky to even be imprisoned first, the guards might just fill us with arrows on sight.”

Vi growls lowly, looking to the side in frustration. “You’re right, I should’ve thought of that,” she mutters. “And if I remember correctly, the prince isn’t visiting again until-”

“The prince visits this kingdom maybe once a month, twice sometimes if he’s feeling bored enough to deal with Amber wanting to strangle him anytime he so much as breathes near her,” Meredith interrupts. “I will be ready by then, I promise you, and besides, I’ll need you to send me a note a few days if not a week prior to the day he’s arriving so I know when to plan the attack,” she adds.

“You’ve had two months to-”

“I’ve spent most of that two months gathering supplies for this- which, if you don’t know- requires me to get the funds for said supplies at times, and I spent most of the first month focusing on getting my hands on this,” Meredith says pointedly, pulling one lapel of the suit she was wearing, a solid black one with gold trimming, aside. Behind the lapel, positioned over Meredith’s heart, was a large, slightly flattened rolled up piece of aged parchment. “Remember when I told you one of my old friends in the guild has a map of the entire castle?”

Vi’s jaw drops. “You...you stole-”

“ _Borrowed_ it!” Meredith corrects, putting a finger to her lips. “And this time I actually mean I borrowed it, he let me have it until we manage to steal this damn thing, but it took a hell of a lot of bribing to let him finally let go of it, and I have to have it on me at all times unless I’m doing something that could get me killed, he’s _very_ protective over this thing and if it gets so much as damaged I’m risking enough, I don’t even want to find out what he’d do to me if I got it stolen.”

Vi nods, still amazed by the fact that she had even managed to get her hands on a map like that, with every room and secret area documented. “You’re-”

“Amazing? Remarkable? Yeah, I know,” Meredith snickers, moving the lapel of her suit back in place. She smooths the area out so there isn’t any visible sign of the map underneath before grinning broadly down at Vi. “So, that means we have a solid chunk of both plans set up!”

“That’s amazing, Meredith, thank you,” Vi smiles genuinely now, nodding her head. “You’re a fucking lifesaver.”

“This plan is not only going to help you and Amber, it’s gonna save the skins of all the thieves or people falsely accused of crimes in this kingdom, I love the thanks but...for once I don’t need it,” Meredith responds with a genuine grin back, pausing, however, when she turns as someone walks over to them.

Vi turns as well, curious, and smiles a little when recognising Skylar from before, the girl now wearing a pretty gold dress. She waves at Vi, flashing a kind smile toward her as she stands next to Meredith. 

“Good evening to you, Vi,” she greets, a glass of champagne, Vi assumes, in her hand. She looks Vi up and down slowly before speaking again. “You look nice.”

“Nice is an understatement, please, Sky, be more generous,” Meredith laughs, nudging the girl beside her gently. “Don’t be shy, you can just tell her you think she looks hot, I’d go as far as to say she looks ravishing if I wasn’t afraid Amber might try to kick me out from jealousy.”

Skylar rolls her eyes. “You leave Amber _alone_ , it’s her birthday,” she chides, elbowing Meredith back. “But seriously, Vi,” she adds, looking back over at the knight. “You really do look nice.”

Vi chuckles, smirking as she adjusts the eyepatch over her eye. She still had her bangs slightly covering it but she wasn’t in the mood to risk them moving on accident tonight. The comments some nobles who had seen her earlier likely made were enough for her at the moment.

“Well, I had to be best at something other than, you know, being a guard, so if kicking Drake and the King’s ass at being best dressed tonight has to be it then it damn well will be.”

Skylar laughs at that, her hazel eyes glimmering with amusement. “Considering Mer and I have seen the both of them already tonight, I think we can confidently say you’ve won.”

“Drake’s gonna get one look at you and piss his trousers,” Meredith adds in crudely, sniggering. “He’s gonna be _pissed_ , pun intended.”

“Speaking of him…” Skylar hums, peering around Vi as she squints toward the crowd. “He and Amber are still out there? Christ, one might assume he’s purposely keeping her from doing anything else.”

Meredith stalks over to Vi’s side as the knight turns, the taller woman huffing when she seems to manage to spot the two. Vi narrows her eye in confusion, not being able to see them herself until Meredith lifts her hand up and gently adjusts Vi’s head to look slightly to the left, startling the knight.

She sees a flash of red and white at first, but as her vision focuses she quickly recognises Amber’s form as the prince with her seems to gingerly dip her down toward the ground. Drake is wearing a white-and-gold suit, which makes Vi smirk since she can tell she looks much better than he does. She frowns again, however, noticing how long the dip was lasting. She couldn’t see much of what was going on, but she swears she sees a flash of silver in the space between the two’s heads, and almost as soon as she sees it Drake’s head snaps back, and Vi lurches forward almost when he nearly drops the princess because of it. He doesn’t, however, and as he pulls Amber back up he tugs her close as if to mutter something to her before shoving her away, stalking, Vi assumes, toward the tables. Amber seems smug regardless, and Vi finally notices her hand slip behind the part in her red dress, a crooked smirk appearing on her lips.

 _‘Looks like someone learned how to use their gift the right way,’_ she thinks, nodding as Meredith wordlessly pushes her forward to go toward the princess.

——————

Amber _hates_ these types of gatherings. She forgot just how much she did before, but God, it was taking everything in her not to punch the faux cheerful look on her stepfather’s face as he roughly shoved her over to Drake as he held his hand out to take her's for a dance. She gingerly takes his hand once she reaches it, shuddering as he tightens his grip into a vice-like one before tugging her onto the floor.

 _‘Why is every man in this castle so rough? Is he trying to pull my arm out of its socket?’_ she thinks exasperatedly, as she’s dragged into the centre of the dance floor. She’s pulled into an awkward dance with Drake, who stays utterly silent through the beginning, at least, to Amber’s slight relief.

During the torturous period she had to dance with the prince, Amber swore she spotted someone who looked like Vi near the end of the crowd, though as soon as she did she was turned the other way in a spin, causing her to scowl.

Drake seemed to notice that, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t like this as much as you, but you’re stuck with me until this ball ends.”

“Because you can’t find someone else to torture for over an hour?” Amber snaps back, curling her lip. “I have _friends_ to go see.”

“Too bad,” Drake grunts, gritting his teeth. “When we get married you won’t be seeing them anyways.”

“If you think you’re going to lock me in this castle like a prisoner once we’re married then you have another thing coming,” Amber growls, digging her nails in the one hand od Drake’s she was holding. Drake hisses in pain and glares sharply at her.

“If we weren’t in public-“

“You’d slap me, I know,” Amber rolls her eyes. “Your threats have gotten old, Drake, boring and tasteless, think of something better next time and bring it back to me next time we see one another, okay?”

Drake scowls at that, his lips pressing together tightly as if it were taking everything in him not to continue insulting her. Amber likes the silence, it almost made her ignore the fact that she was having to touch the prince at all.

 _‘Eugh, and I might smell like him once I’m finally free of him, it’s like he poured an entire bottle of fragrance on himself before coming here!’_ she screws her nose up in disgust, huffing as Drake finally opens his mouth after a few long seconds.

“I think I spotted your little dog out on the edge of the group a moment or so ago,” he huffs, glaring out toward the crowd. Drake was taller than Amber by around seven or eight inches (with Amber being at barely 5’1 and a half, she usually just rounded it to 5’2), so he could likely see over some of the heads in the crowd, making Amber frown when she herself couldn’t see anyone that looked like Vi in the crowd. “I assume she’s looking for you?”

There was a tinge of envy in Drake’s voice that made Amber smirk involuntarily. The prince normally wasn’t jealous of her and Vi’s time spent together, so Amber had a feeling it was about the way the knight was dressed tonight, much to her pleasure.

Using this to her advantage, Amber bats her eyelashes innocently at Drake, smiling devilishly to contrast it. “Oh, perhaps, but do I detect a hint of _jealousy_ in your voice, Drake? I know she’s leagues more attractive than you’ll ever hope to be, but come on, don’t be childish.”

Drake’s gaze immediately snaps back onto Amber as his face grows red with what Amber assumes is both rage and embarrassment. “Keep your mouth _shut._ ”

“This is my kingdom, I talk when I please,” Amber sneers, eyes narrowing before an idea pops into her head and she smirks slyly. “The only one who can shut me up is that guard you’re so jealous over, and it’s only when she’s-”

“Make _one more_ disgusting comment about you and that guard and I _will_ do something aggressive here, the public be damned!” Drake snarls suddenly.

“Awww,” Amber coos, giggling despite the angry tone Drake was using along with the tightened grip he had on her waist as he led her around the floor. “You really _are_ jealous! It’d almost be flattering if I wasn’t used to you calling me ugly, despite me overhearing you calling me pretty as well, though that’s normally followed by a grossly sexual comment too. Seems mighty hypocritical of you, hm?”

What she says has the effect she wanted, and Drake grunts angrily for a moment before his grip on Amber’s waist suddenly tightens. Amber knows what move he’s about to pull, and her free hand slips behind the part that separated the different cloth colours of her dress, her fingers ghosting up her thigh. As Drake dips her down toward the ground, she finds what she’s looking for and pulls sharply, a flash of silver obstructing both her and the prince’s vision.

Drake swallows slowly, eyes widening as the dull side of the dagger Amber had snuck on her while one of the women trying to help her get dressed earlier wasn’t looking grazes his throat. He gulps once before meeting Amber’s gaze, his eyes boring into her own. 

“Why are you so insufferable?” he murmurs quietly, as if trying to ignore the blade between them. “You shouldn’t be capable of this,” he adds with a glance toward the crowd. Amber’s arm’s positioning blocked them from seeing the blade, she’d planned this enough, and she knew very well that even if they did see it that she wouldn’t care all that much.

Amber smirks slowly. “As it turns out,” she whispers, her voice a mere hiss in Drake’s ears, making the warning clear. “I’m capable of much unpleasantness.”

Drake’s eyebrows furrow angrily, but any fight left in the man is lost. He isn’t foolish enough to try and retaliate with a blade to his throat, to Amber’s displeasure, and he backs away, snatching Amber’s hand before she could fall as she hastily slides her armed hand back under her dress to sheathe the blade. She’s pulled to her feet roughly before Drake sneers at her, turning his back to her as he stalks off, shoving people aside to head to the tables, she assumes.

Amber rolls her eyes, too amused to consider the possible repercussions of what she just did. She turns to head the opposite way, to go look for Vi or one of her friends, she knew Meredith and Skylar had to be somewhere around here at the very least, when she hears a familiar voice clear their throat. 

Turning, Amber spots the woman she’d been trying to find this entire time walking over as the crowd parts, and Amber blinks, her eyes widening at Vi’s appearance tonight, it taking everything in her to keep her jaw from going agape. 

She was wearing something similar to Drake and her stepfather wore, though unlike the white and gold that made up Drake’s attire and the crimson that made up her stepfather’s, Vi was wearing a navy blue suit with silver trimming over a white ruffle shirt. Her trousers matched, a belt with a silver buckle adorning the top, a sheathed sword to the side of her hip. Her hair was put up in a braid, an eyepatch covering her other eye as her other one met Amber’s blue gaze. She’d put makeup on, Amber could tell, though it wasn’t a lot, really just lip paint and maybe something around her eyes.

Her face pales a little, which isn’t good considering her face is already heating up a little despite Vi haven’t having said anything yet, and she sinks her teeth in her bottom lip to try and control it as she waves almost bashfully at the knight, who smiles back and moves forward to stand in front of her, offering a hand out wordlessly.

“Seems I didn’t have to rescue you from that troll’s clutches this time, hm?” the taller girl jokes, smirking slightly as Amber immediately grins, a soft giggle leaving her lips. “Look at you, saving yourself, I knew you had it in you!”

Amber takes Vi’s hand, allowing the other woman to pull her closer, one arm gently curling around her waist while the other stays entwined with Amber’s own hand. Amber’s free hand grabs Vi’s shoulder as soon as the knight sways them both gently across the floor, a chuckle leaving her lips.

“I’d say you had a part in it, giving me the dagger,” she responds, smiling as she presses her head against Vi’s chest gently.

“Perhaps,” she hears Vi murmur. “But I had no idea you’d have the balls to sneak it into the ballroom, to be honest,” she adds with a laugh. “I honestly thought I was going to have to slide in and steal you from him.”

“Well,” Amber moves her head away from Vi’s chest to peer up at her, smiling a little bashfully now. “I guess you’re an influence on me, then.”

“A good one, I can tell, considering you’re already putting blades to men’s throats,” Vi snorts in response, moving back to twirl Amber once before pulling her back. “You’ll be a force to be reckoned with yet.”

“Does that mean I might finally be considered intimidating?” Amber asks, knowing the answer that would leave Vi’s lips already as the knight snorts loudly.

“Not to me, you won’t,” she replies, and, on cue, she dips Amber and herself down, not as harshly as Drake had, however. “To me, you’ll always be cute, even if you held a blade to my skin.”

Amber’s face darkens a little as she lets go of Vi’s shoulder to trace a finger across the knight’s throat as if still holding the blade. “Is there ever a time when you’re not going to try and flatter me?”

“Never,” Vi whispers in response, and Amber shudders as she feels the knights exhale of breath hit her lips. They’re torturously close, but Amber’s not stupid enough to surge forward right now when people are watching, and she reluctantly allows Vi to move back and pull her back up.

“Oh, I found your friends while I was busy looking for you,” the knight adds as they continue to dance around the ballroom. “And I apologise for being late, by the way, it took longer than expected to get ready, and you didn’t really help by keeping me in your room.”

Amber snorts. “Please, I’m not going to fault you for being fashionably late,” she responds, a smile on her lips. “But regardless, I hope Meredith didn’t give you much trouble.”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” Vi chuckles, “Meredith got the map of the castle we’re looking for, in one to two months the king will be out of here,” she states with an excited grin. “I think you might want to take that as her birthday gift to you.”

Amber’s eyes widen like plates for a moment as her mouth goes ajar, having not expected that at all. The mere prospect of her stepfather being out of the kingdom permanently in a mere two months at most made her heart soar, and she forces herself to stay put and not pull Vi into a tight hug so that they don’t get odd looks.

“Where is Mer?” Amber asks, as Vi slowly stops as well. The knight nods toward Amber’s right, and upon turning she feels Vi’s hand gently wrap around her waist as she moves forward, heading off the main dance floor. They walk together, Amber smiling as she’s able to lean against Vi a bit affectionately until she recognises Meredith and Skylar standing beside a pillar in the ballroom, the taller girl seemingly telling Skylar some sort of story, considering the exasperated look on the other girl’s face as she listened in.

Amber separates from Vi upon spotting the black-haired girl, rushing over toward Meredith. The thief barely turns and opens her mouth to greet Amber before she surges forward, pulling Meredith into a tight hug. The taller girl lets out a soft “oof!” in surprise before wrapping her arms around Amber, a laugh bubbling from her lips.

“Hey, you!” she says, spinning Amber around playfully. “What’s this all about? If anything I should be giving you hugs, it’s _your_ birthday after all!”

“You’re a fucking _saint_ , Mer,” Amber murmurs, her voice muffled since her face was still pressed into Meredith’s chest. “God, I owe you.”

“Is this about the map and the plan?” Meredith questions, and Amber assumes Vi nods in response. “Oh! Well, take it as a…very elaborate birthday president from me to you,” Meredith chuckles, swaying a little with Amber still in her arms. “A birthday gift to everyone in this bloody kingdom, too,” she adds with a snort, pressing her lips to Amber’s head before the princess moves back, smiling earnestly up at Meredith.

“Not to ask you of too much,” she breathes, wiping her eyes once she realises she had started crying a little from happiness. She hears Vi excuse herself to go grab drinks as she continues to speak. “But what about Drake? Vi mentioned you were planning something that involved him.”

Meredith nods, taking a sip of the drink she had in her hand. “His death will come in a month, next time he leaves this castle,” she answers.

“That’d be...the second week in April, I think? On Friday if I remember right.”

“Huh, happy early birthday to me, then,” Meredith chuckles, running a hand through her hair. “Then all you have to do is wait until then! Sorry for making you deal with him for one more week.”

“I think I can manage, I’m pretty sure I scared the everloving hell out of him on the dance floor, did you notice-”

“The dagger? No, but Vi did,” Meredith answers with a small smirk. “I’ve never seen a knight blush before, you know, but _lord_ you should’ve seen the look on Vi’s face.”

Skylar chuckles at that, and Amber turns to look at her, a smile on her lips.

“I almost forgot,” the princess says, moving over to hug Skylar, lighter than she did with Meredith for the taller woman’s sake. She moves back and grins earnestly at the two of them. “You both look amazing tonight.”

“Speak for yourself,” Meredith and Skylar both say in unison, looking toward one another in slight surprise before they begin to laugh. As they do, Vi comes back moments later with two glasses of champagne in hand, handing one to Amber.

“So,” Amber says as the giggles die down, taking a sip of her glass, relishing the bubbly alcohol as it touches her tongue. “Are you both ready for this? Killing Drake, I mean.”

Vi nods. “I’ve been ready since the first time he tried to attack me,” she answers, a scowl forming on her lips at the memory. Amber leans against her slightly for comfort, and in response, Vi wraps an arm around her waist, a touch that makes Amber grin and butterflies erupt in her stomach.

“I just need to buy a new set of crossbow bolts and then I’m set,” Meredith answers after Vi, an eager grin on her face. 

Skylar seems to be the only one apprehensive about the entire thing, Amber notices, as she looks between both women worriedly. “Hold on, you two _are_ sure you can handle this as just the both of you, right? Do you even know what you’re possibly facing?”

“Likely two to three guards, his advisor, and the coachman, oh, and Drake, of course,” Meredith responds. “I’ll be able to use the crossbow on at least three of them before they can do much, and Vi can head after the last of them while I get down from where I’m shooting them from.”

Vi pats the sword on her side. “They likely won’t have any ranged weapons on them, and hand cannons aren’t that effective on plate armour, at most, it’ll dent it,” she shrugs. “I’ll manage fine.”

“But there _is_ a possibility of you both dying, or just one of you?” Skylar probes on, the question making Amber go rigid as she glances at Vi.

“Well, yeah,” Meredith shrugs. “But that’s a risk we have to take, Sky, it’ll be even more dangerous when I go steal the records book in around two months, both these missions could end in our untimely demises but...sometimes you have to risk death to get what you want done.”

Vi nods in agreement. “Which is why we’re going to try and avoid death at all by planning this well,” she adds in, though the weight of the situation still hits Amber roughly, her heart stopping for a moment at the mere idea of Vi dying and Amber not knowing until Meredith, or, if she also perished, some random knight coming to relay her the bad news. The mere thought of it makes her down the rest of her champagne, shuddering as Vi tightens her grip around her waist, having seemingly noticed how distraught she’d gotten. 

“Hey,” Vi whispers softly in her ear, gently nudging her. “Amber? Are you alright?”

Amber’s jolted out of her morbid reverie at that, taking a sharp intake of air. “Yeah,” she whispers. “Yeah, I’m good, just,” she glances at the glass in her hand. “Out of champagne.”

“How about I go get us both refills, then?” Vi offers. “Mer, too, if she wants?” she adds, gazing over at Meredith curiously. The thief nods in confirmation, and Vi nods back.

“Yeah- yeah, you do that, thank you, love,” Amber mumbles, the term leaving her lips without her even realising it until Vi had pulled away to go back to where the drinks were being served.

Meredith’s snickering makes Amber’s head snap up. “You both are adorable, Vi’s face when you called her love was priceless, she looked like you had just asked her to marry you.”

“Mer, leave them alone,” Skylar butts in, elbowing the taller woman lightly. “And, Amber, are you sure you’re okay? You look like you just saw someone die,” she adds, moving over to gently place her hand on the princess’ shoulder. Amber looks up at Skylar upon being touched, and Skylar clearly sees the grim expression on Amber’s face, considering the woman sighs and gently reaches her other hand up to gently place it on Amber’s other shoulder.

“Look, I shouldn’t have asked all of this in front of you, it’s your birthday, I’m sorry,” she says, frowning slightly. “But...I can’t help but worry, and I know you can’t either.”

“I don’t wanna lose Vi before-” Amber blurts out, clenching her fists as she looks down at her feet. “Before-”

“Before you tell her how you feel?” Skylar guesses, raising a brow. As Amber blinks rapidly in slight surprise, Skylar chuckles softly. “You’re as obvious with your feelings as ever, Amb, both of us can tell you love her.”

“Mhm,” Meredith adds, an oddly knowing look on her face. “And I bet...Vi likes you back, or, well, to be honest, if she says she doesn’t she’s being a bad liar, it’s pretty obvious she has something for you.”

Skylar shares a look with Meredith that tells Amber that they know more than what they’re letting on, and with a start, Amber realises that Vi and Meredith had been meeting to discuss plans and progress since they’d met in the city those two months ago. Did Meredith know exactly how Vi felt, then?

“Look,” Meredith continues, snapping Amber out of her thoughts immediately. “I’m not saying you have to confront her tonight but...you have around a month before we do this, why not spend that time not stuck pining endlessly? If I had to choose between telling a girl how I feel and then spending a month with them before they possibly die-”

“Meredith.”

“What, Sky? I was just saying-”

“First of all,” Skylar pinches the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “The _logical_ solution to that idea, Mer, would be not telling them because of the heartbreak and worse devastation you’d go through after they died,” she starts, though Meredith immediately butts in right after before Skylar can speak again. 

“But then you’d live the rest of your life wish you had asked them!” Meredith argues. “At least with my choice you wouldn’t have to live with a choice you didn’t make-”

“That’s not the point!” Skylar blurts out, rubbing her temples as she groans. “We’re going off topic! Amber,” she turns, smiling tiredly as she ignores Meredith’s continued rambles. “It’s your choice what you do, and, besides,” she gives Meredith a look. “I’m sure _someone_ won’t let Vi die when they go through with their plan, _won’t they?_ ”

Meredith stops rambling immediately, an awkward grin appearing on her face that slowly morphs into a cocky smirk. “The only people that are dying is everyone on that carriage, I promise you that.”

“And Vi is...a very capable woman, she’ll be fine,” Skylar adds, though Amber could tell that Skylar still had her doubts, doubts she herself had. “She’s not gonna let that asshole take her out, and even if he does she’s not going down without him going with her.”

Amber nods, moving back from Skylar’s grasp as, almost on cue, Vi appears with three glasses held precariously in her grasp. Meredith snorts at her and grabs one of them to relieve the poor knight, and Vi sighs in relief before handing Amber the second one she had. 

“Sorry that took me so long, there’s a line,” Vi rolls her eye. “We might have to settle with wine next round, at this rate.”

“No big deal, Skylar smiles, deciding to not show how grim the prior conversation had been toward the knight. “Meredith’s not having any more after this, she’s had plenty before, haven’t you, Mer?” she says, giving Meredith a look.

Meredith pouts. “I’ve only had, like, four,” she says, and, not surprisingly to anyone, as soon as she takes a sip of her new glass she hiccups. Amber hadn’t noticed that in the past ten minutes the taller girl had begun slurring a little until now, noticing the thief’s body language change a bit as the alcohol seemed to finally hit her. 

Amber giggles at that, nudging Vi gently. “I bet you can handle more than that,” she points toward Meredith, and Vi snorts loudly.

“Please, I absolutely could,” she responds, as Skylar sighs softly.

“Please _don’t_ drink more than five glasses of champagne, that’s an entire bottle,” Skylar groans, shaking her head. “A bottle will get any of us drunk, _especially_ Amber, with how small she is.”

“Oh, come _on_ , Sky!” Meredith drawls, slinging an arm over the woman’s shoulders. “It’s Amber’s birthday! Let us live!”

“I’ll be fine,” Amber says with a grin. “You should worry more about Mer, you know she’s a-”

“Touchy drunk,” Skylar answers, as Meredith was still clinging her arm around her shoulders. “I noticed.”

With that Meredith slides off of Skylar and sidles over to Vi and Amber, slinging both arms around both girl’s shoulders as she stands between them. It’s a bit awkward looking since Amber is significantly shorter than Meredith, but she makes it work.

“Come on,” she says, grinning as she begins to pull the two toward the dance floor again. “The night is young, and we’re gonna have way too much shit to deal with in the coming month, let’s enjoy it while we can!”

Skylar rolls her eyes at the trio as Amber’s pulled along by the taller girl, but as Amber reaches her hand out for her friend to grab so she can join them, Skylar takes it and allows Meredith to pull all four of them out onto the floor to have fun.

\--------------------

After a few more drinks and plenty of dancing, Skylar finally managed to drag Meredith off the floor an hour or more, Amber hadn’t really kept track, later, so she could take the intoxicated thief home. She waves goodbye to Amber and Vi both as Meredith drunkenly lifts a hand and waves it wildly before they disappear beyond the doors leading to the exit, and Amber smiles lopsidedly as they leave, leaning against Vi’s chest as the knight’s arms wrap around her waist from behind her.

“Soooo,” Vi drawls, and Amber giggles as she feels her breath hit her ear, too tipsy to care much about how close they were. “What now?”

“I dunno,” Amber responds, turning around in Vi’s arms so she could look up at the knight. Most of the people had slowly dwindled out, a few groups still sticking around, so Amber felt like there was nothing wrong with holding onto the lapels of Vi’s jacket. “Kinda wanna...do something sober Amber would be too anxious to do,” she whispers.

“Oh?” Vi tilts her head almost comically, arching a brow. “And what’s that?”

Amber smirks slyly. “Not here,” she mutters. “Somewhere...private.”

Vi seems to hear what Amber said the wrong way, as Amber had meant that she just wanted to possibly sneak off to the clearing to hang out at night when they _really_ weren’t supposed to, though Vi clearly heard it as something else, because the grip she has around Amber’s waist tightens and she watches the knight regard her with a look of surprise and something else Amber can’t quite discern.

“I- your room, then?” she whispers now, growing oddly quiet. Amber’s confused, the alcohol in her bloodstream not letting her think about what she had said. Granted, she wasn’t _that_ drunk, though, but regardless, she wasn’t going to properly think before saying anything at the moment.

“No, silly!” she finally says, giggling as Vi blinks at her in utter confusion. “The clearing! You know, in the woods?” she laughs, pressing her cheek against Vi’s chest as she speaks. “It’s private too, you know.”

Amber feels Vi’s heart beating quickly in her chest. Normally she’d question it, but Amber was tipsy right now, so all she did was find it funny and giggle at it anytime she heard it. Vi pulls back a little to regard the smaller girl. Vi was as tipsy as Amber was, if not a bit less since she wasn’t as much of a lightweight as Amber, though she still took to alcohol differently. 

“It’s pretty dark out there, the moon is full but we’d need a lantern,” the knight responds plainly. “But...sure, we can go.”

See, with Amber, the filter and anxiety in her died while she was drunk, but with Vi, however, a good half of the logical part of her head threw itself out the window, and she likely thought that this wouldn’t be potentially dangerous at all. She likely just saw it as more fun she could have with Amber, however which way she was reading that in at the moment.

“Wonderful!” Amber exclaims, and like that she moves back, already beginning to head off toward the ballroom exit. Vi immediately sidles after her, thankfully still rational enough to keep a hand on her swords sheath just in case.

It takes them a bit to get to the stables, where Vi grabs a large, brightly lit lantern off the side of the wall before continuing to follow Amber out of the stables and into the field that comes before the woodland. Amber wasn’t that drunk, clearly, since she was having no trouble outside of a few stumbles traversing through the field without getting confused, and as she entered the forest through the path she always took she made sure Vi didn’t lose her before continuing on. She didn’t trip once the entire way, thankfully, though she nearly stumbled on one of the roots that shot up from the ground on the way, and she could hear Vi cursing anytime a branch got caught in her hair, which, upon turning around, Amber noticed had begun to come undone from it’s braid.

As they enter the clearing, Amber’s eyes widen with wonder as she gazes around. She had never been here at night before, and with the full moon shining in the cloudless sky the grass turned silver under its light, and, to add to that, some of the flowers in the clearing were glowing, likely some sort of magic flower she could possibly ask a castle mage about, but Amber didn’t particularly care about that right now.

Vi appeared behind her as she looked around, and the knight looked visibly awed by the clearings nightly appearance, her eye wide as she looked around.

“Woah…” the knight murmurs, following Amber as she heads over to the river before placing the lantern down gently on a flat stone near them. “This is...beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as-” Amber pauses, smiling bashfully, to her drunken self’s surprise, as she looks up at Vi. “You.”

Vi blinks down at her, a bit surprised by the compliment. “Don’t flatter me,” she says eventually, a sheepish grin on her face. “That’s my job.”

“But I’m not lying or saying it just to flatter you,” Amber whispers. “I really think you’re pretty.”

“Well,” Vi starts, Amber noticing how hoarse her throat had suddenly gotten. “I think you’re pretty too.”

Amber’s smile is lopsided as she walks backwards into the creek after kicking off her shoes, shutting her eyes as water runs over her now bare feet. “I’m glad,” she murmurs, holding out her hands.

Vi tilts her head but kicks off her shoes before following Amber into the water. “Is this all you wanted to come here for?”

“I guess,” Amber shrugs, laughing as she reaches down to run her fingers through the water. “I just wanted to see this place at night.”

“I just assumed there was something...more...that you wanted, considering you said you wanted to do something a sober you wouldn’t normally do out of anxiety,” Vi says, and to Amber’s surprise she notices nervousness in the knight’s body language. “Something you wanted to do...alone...with me.”

Amber cocks a brow, tilting her head as she stands back up, immediately remembering what she had said. “Oh, yeah…” she muses, her heart beginning to beat faster. She’d wanted to do something with Vi, definitely, but she had unfortunately begun to grow anxious again, which clearly meant the alcohol in her was beginning to wear off. “Was…there something _you_ wanted to do with me? You could have just asked.”

Vi’s face seems to darken as she grows sheepish, to Amber’s surprise, and a crooked though weak smirk appears on the knight’s lips. “Perhaps.”

“Oh?” Amber murmurs, pulling Vi closer to her. The knight immediately grabs Amber’s waist once she gets so much as close to her, though this time she grasps her sides as if she were going to pick her up instead of wrapping her arms around her. Once again, Amber pulls at the lapels of Vi’s jacket, pulling them nearly flush against one another, partially to keep her steady. “Then do it.”

Amber had a feeling what exactly it was Vi wanted. Even if she was wrong she wanted to see what exactly it was, but every feeling in her hoped it was that Vi wanted to say, or, to be honest, do the exact same thing Amber wanted.

Vi eyes Amber curiously, a mix of emotions running through her single eye as she swallows slowly, and, this time, Amber knows she sees Vi eye her lips, unlike the other times where she had done it so fast Amber had assumed she was just listening to her talk.

She knows that if what she’s dreading happens in a month, it’ll hurt worse than anything, but she couldn’t let Vi leave her without at least knowing how she felt, didn’t want to not be able to experience the knight kissing her. She feels Vi press her forehead against hers, like how Amber did only hours ago in her room with her, and one arm fully wraps around Amber’s middle almost possessively as Vi moves ever so closer.

“I really hope you know how long I’ve wanted to do this,” Vi mutters softly, her lips mere centimetres from Amber’s as her hands slowly move up to cup her face gently, tilting her head up.

A chuckle leaves Amber’s lips as she smiles. “I could say the same thing to you,” she whispers, feeling Vi’s lips brush up against her own as she says the last few words.

“Good,” Vi murmurs, not even seconds after pressing her lips softly against Amber’s own. Her hands go back to wrapping around the princess’ waist as Amber keeps pulling her closer, slowly deepening the kiss as Amber’s smile grew.

She hadn’t kissed another woman before, to be truthful. Her first kiss had been stolen by the man she was betrothed to, after all, and she hadn’t anticipated the pure euphoria she felt now, and if she didn’t have to separate for air she didn’t truly know if she would want to stop.

She pulls apart from Vi after another long moment to breathe, eyes wide as her face immediately splits into a grin, Vi following suit as she chuckles softly, pressing another chaste kiss to Amber’s lips quickly.

“How long have you-” Amber starts, only to be interrupted by Vi.

“Honestly? God, maybe since the day I first found you in this clearing,” she answers, smiling toothily. “You?”

“I think...I could say the same thing,” Amber admits. “Or, if not then, the day after.”

“God,” Vi laughs, shaking her head. “Good to know we’ve been two pining idiots for months now, if only I’d known,” she rolls her eye in amusement. 

“I might have asked sooner if Drake didn’t exist,” Amber sighs with a forlorn smile. “I was too worried about your safety to just tell you how I felt.”

“That’s why I decided to admit it now, actually,” Vi admits with a sheepish look on her face. “Just in case-”

“You wanted a month of us to be together just in case you die next month too, didn’t you?” Amber blurts, eyes widening. “God, we just keep doing the same things regarding each other, don’t we?”

“Maybe that’s why we’re meant to be together, then,” Vi offers with a lopsided sweet grin. “Because we keep having the same mindsets, that’s definitely a connection if anything.”

“Perhaps so,” Amber agrees, smiling back, a sweet, loving smile. “Then, riddle me this, are you thinking the same thing I’m thinking right now?”

“Hm, that I kinda wanna kiss you again? Because that’s what I’m thinking,” Vi responds, a cheeky grin on her lips as she gazes down at Amber.

In response, Amber smirks and tugs on the lapels of Vi’s jacket again, taking a step forward to move back into another kiss, though when she steps forward she, not looking, steps on a mossy stone in the river, the slick surface immediately making Amber’s clumsy, partially intoxicated self slip and fall into the creek with a splash. Vi had clearly tried to catch her, as Amber had heard her say something in shock, but it had been too late, and Amber sat in ankle-deep water, dazed and soaked from her waist down.

As much as Vi clearly was concerned over whether she was okay or not, the knight couldn’t help but burst out laughing, doubling over as she tried to stop. Amber couldn’t help it either, falling onto her back in the water as she wheezed from laughing so hard, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she put a hand to her mouth. 

“Oh my _God,_ ” Vi breathes between bouts of laughter. “Are...” she puts her fist to her mouth to try and calm herself down. “Are you okay?”

Amber slowly sits up, still giggling. “I’m _soaked,_ ” she half complains and laughs, despite her sodden state she couldn’t help but find this hilarious. 

“I noticed,” Vi snickers as she reaches an arm out. “C’mere, you, I’ll save you.”

“My hero,” Amber slurs amusedly, reaching her hand out. She grabs Vi’s hand, but as soon as she does an idea appears in her head and she smirks mischievously up at Vi, who cocks a brow before seeming to realise what the smirk meant.

“Amber, don't you dare-" she warns, being cut off as soon as Amber pulls her hand sharply, her words being cut off by a scream as Vi immediately tries to pull herself away before losing balance and falling into the creek backwards. Amber bursts out laughing again as Vi shoots up into a sitting position, sputtering. 

“You _asshole!_ ” she groans, shaking her head like a dog. Her braid had fully come undone, making water droplets fly everywhere. “I said don’t!” 

Regardless of how annoyed she sounded, even Vi couldn’t help but crack a smile, finding the entire situation funny.

“You shouldn’t tell me not to do something,” Amber retorts, sticking out her tongue as she moves to crawl out of the stream.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Vi suddenly yells, pulling off her jacket and sword and throwing them both onto the ground beside the stream before she lunges for Amber, grabbing her ankle and yanking her back into the water. Amber lets out a shriek when she does, whirling around to try and push Vi away. Due to the knight’s stronger physique, though, there’s not much she can do, and she writhes like a fish out of water as Vi lifts her up bridal style, slowly standing up shakily, water dripping from the both of their clothes.

“Thank you,” Amber giggles. “For getting me soaked again just to pick me up.”

“That’s cute.”

“What?”

“That you think I’m helping you out of the water,” Vi responds cheekily before turning around sharply. Amber hardly has any time to attempt to grab Vi before the knight throws her back into the deeper part of the creek, the princess shrieking again before she hits the water. It’s not deep enough to submerge her, but it thoroughly soaks her, and Amber groans as she recovers from the landing.

“Fuck you!”

Vi smirks and winks over at Amber as she stands ankle-deep in the creek. “Gladly!”

Amber groans again. “Just because we kissed doesn’t mean you get to say that!”

“Pretty sure it does,” Vi retorts, sloshing over toward Amber and holding out her hand again. “Come on, I promise I won’t throw you this time, you’re soaked enough now, I’d reckon.”

Amber snorts, trying to blow a sodden lock of hair off her face as she holds her hand out, taking Vi’s own before she’s pulled up. “You’re lucky I love you.”

The three words slip out so easily, Amber realises, and for a moment she worries she said it too hastily, her heart hammering in her chest suddenly as Vi looks down at her, blinking in slight surprise before a lopsided grin appears on her face.

“Well, I love you too,” she responds earnestly, making Amber grin earnestly as the knight takes her hand again and leads them both out of the water. Vi lays down on the shore in the soft grass almost immediately after that, with Amber following suit.

Turning her head, Amber regards Vi with a loving smile now, reaching out as Vi turns to face her so she could cup her cheek gently, stroking one of Vi’s cheekbones with her thumb. 

“I really do love you,” she murmurs, scooting closer.

Vi chuckles and, as soon as Amber is within distance, moves a hand behind her neck so she could pull her in for a kiss. “I love you too.”

Amber smiles into the kiss, gently pulling Vi closer until the knight eventually begins to move, parting the kiss for a moment to crawl over Amber. The knight’s knees bracket Amber’s hips and her hands rest beside each side of Amber’s head before she leans back in, kissing her more passionately than the last two. Amber kisses her back eagerly, one hand gently playing with Vi’s hair while the other stays idle, though as Vi’s teeth gently nip Amber’s lower lip she moves it upward to cup her cheek, pulling her close as she allows Vi to slip her tongue into her mouth.

As the hand cupping Vi’s cheek slowly begins to slide down Vi’s body and snake it’s way toward the buckle of her belt, she meets one of Vi’s hands, which had moved down itself. Vi pulls back as soon as their fingers touch, taking a slow intake of breath as she chuckles.

“Is…this okay?” she asks, her forehead pressed against Amber’s gently. “I’m not being too forward, am I?”

Amber breathes heavily, her half-lidded gaze meeting Vi’s as she chuckles softly. “You’re absolutely fine, Vi,” she responds softly.

“Do you want to stop? We don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to. I know this...must be your first time, after all,” Vi adds, a slightly nervous look in her eye as she regards Amber.

“No, this is fine, Vi,” Amber smiles, moving the hand that was previously playing with Vi’s hair to her jaw. “I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone but you.”

Vi nods, and clearly, the words had reassured her, as a smirk slowly grows on her lips as she regards Amber. “Well, alright then,” she murmurs, leaning down to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Though, if someone would have told me a year ago I’d be taking the Princess of Aetheria’s virginity I’m pretty sure I’d laugh in their face.”

A giggle leaves Amber’s lips at that as Vi begins to trail kisses down her jaw as she moves toward her throat. “Don’t brag too much, I’m solidly sure I’m technically supposed to stay a virgin until marriage, if the king finds out he’ll throw a fit.”

“So wait,” Vi pauses on the column of Amber’s throat, and Amber shudders a bit as she feels Vi begin to smile on her skin. “You’re telling me that not only do I get to have sex with the woman I’ve been in love with for months now, but that by doing so I get to, in a way, tell the king to go fuck himself without him even knowing?”

Amber snorts at that, covering her mouth with her hand as her eyes screw up in amusement. “I mean, yeah, if you want to put it that way,” she responds, her breath hitching as Vi kisses her neck. “But uh, consider not being too loud about it, I don’t need you getting lashed agai-” she quickly tries to add, though as Vi begins to bite and suck gently on the sensitive skin on her neck the words die on her tongue, being replaced with a low groan. She feels Vi’s hands busy themselves immediately, one sliding up the slit on her dress to remove the dagger sheath still strapped to her thigh while the other hiked up her dress.

There’s a soft thump as Vi tosses the dagger sheath aside before moving away from her collarbone now, sitting back as she straddled Amber, sitting on her hips. She chuckles sultrily as she runs a hand through her hair slowly, her eye lazily regarding Amber as she went to undo the belt on her waist with her free hand, easily unclasping it before pulling it off and tossing it aside. 

Amber’s throat is dry, and she finds swallowing particularly hard as she watches Vi while propped up on her elbows. The weight plus the display of the girl makes her lower abdomen tie itself into knots.

“Someone’s enjoying this~” Vi says, her tone sing-song as her hand reaches out to grab Amber’s chin, her thumb tracing her bottom lip gently. 

“It’s hard not to,” Amber admits sheepishly, glancing to the side as her cheeks somehow grow darker than they already were.

The move makes Vi chuckle again, her voice closer to Amber’s ears now as she moves her hands away suddenly, and Amber jumps when she feels them slide up her waist and slide up her back, forcing her to keep herself propped up. She feels a slight pressure on the back of her dress as Vi pulls on the drawstring, undoing it quickly.

“With us being outside I’d normally suggest keeping your dress on and me just slipping my hand up here,” she starts, and Amber jolts as Vi’s hand brushes up her thigh for a moment. “But...I want to see all of you.”

“What’s more that you haven’t already seen? You saw me naked only hours ago, remember? When I bathed?” Amber remarks with a playful smile as Vi stops smirking for a moment to laugh, shaking her head.

“You might not understand, my love, it’s...different when it’s like this,” Vi explains, and as she speaks she slowly begins to pull the top part of Amber’s dress down, scowling when she spots the corset and chemise below it. “I want to touch you, I couldn’t do that last time, I think we would’ve just ended up wasting more time we needed to get ready,” she teases, as Amber immediately blushes at the mere idea. Before she could speak, however, Vi stops straddling her to work on pulling her dress off.

“Hold on,” she says, and Amber frowns as Vi moves back with the dress in her arm, only to come back with the jacket she’d been wearing earlier. She has Amber sit up before laying the piece of clothing behind her.

“There,” she murmurs, pressing a quick kiss to Amber’s lips before moving back. “So you have something to lay on.”

“The grass was soft enough,” Amber giggles. “Your chivalry is welcomed, though, you’re too kind.”

Vi chuckles, pulling Amber close as she begins to try and undo the corset clumsily. “I just want you to be as comfortable as possible right now,” she murmurs. “Most people regret their first time, you know? I don’t want you to, that might put a damper on my ego.”

Amber rolls her eyes, playfully swatting Vi’s shoulder. “You and your damn ego,” she laughs, making Vi grin.

“We’re a package deal, so don’t complain!” she says, cursing softly when she’s unable to undo the corset, the knot the person who had tied it proving to be quite the task to undo. “You get me _and_ the ego, and get all the benefits from it.”

“Oh? And what are those?” Amber raises a brow, flashing a teasing smirk at the knight as she slowly smirks.

“You’re about to find out, princess,” she purrs softly, fishing around on the ground for something. “Now, turn around for me, please.”

Amber obeys, assuming Vi needed to see the knot to untie it, though she nearly jumps out of her skin when she feels a blade just barely graze her skin instead, feeling the pressure on her ribs lessen as the corset suddenly becomes undone in mere seconds, falling to the ground unceremoniously. Amber immediately whirls around, eyes wide as she realises that Vi had used her dagger to simply cut the corset open instead.

“I hope that wasn’t your only corset,” she remarks, picking up the flimsy garment before tossing it away with a smirk, sheathing the blade afterwards. “But considering how much you hate those things, I don’t feel that much remorse.”

Amber rolls her eyes. “Unfortunately, I have plenty more where that one came from,” she sighs, though when Vi pushes her back onto the ground she stops talking.

“Shame,” the knight mutters, slowly moving back into the position she was at the start of this, though one of her legs sat betwixt Amber’s knees now. “Guess we’ll just have to keep doing this then, until I can break all of them,” she coos, her voice growing husky as she immediately presses another long, hungry kiss on Amber’s lips before Amber could respond. Her hips rock upward involuntarily as Vi begins to gently squeeze at her chest through the thin fabric of her chemise, soft noises slipping past her lips despite them being glued to Vi’s. As soon as her hips so much as move, the leg between her knees moves forward, and Amber’s fingers dig into the soft grass as she begins to feel pressure right at the apex of her thighs, making her hiss in pleasure against Vi’s mouth.

Vi pulls away after a moment, a cocky grin appearing on her face as she grabs the hem of the chemise and pulls it up, Amber sitting up slightly to help Vi pull it off. Upon doing it, Vi seems to realise how unfair their situation is, and chuckles softly as she unbuttons her own shirt before shimmying it off. It causes Amber to stare, she can’t help herself, really, and the low chuckle that leaves Vi’s lips once she notices Amber’s gaze makes the princess bite her lip a little.

“Keep staring and you’ll _really_ boost my ego,” she teases, as Amber’s blue gaze flits back up to Vi’s.

“I’m allowed to appreciate art,” she counters, which, in turn, makes Vi actually lose her smirk for a moment, a surprised look appearing on her face before she smiles genuinely.

“That was smooth, look at you,” she comments, as Amber smiles back. 

“I learned from the best,” she replies with a playful grin now, eyes glittering with amusement as Vi begins to laugh.

“Guess I really am a good influence, then, damn,” she murmurs. “But that’s enough talk for now.”

Before getting the chance to respond, Vi’s hands wander up to Amber’s chest and slowly begin to squeeze and fondle around, and Amber could tell the knight relished the pleased noises that left Amber’s lips involuntarily as she writhed around, her back arching a little as if it’d help make Vi’s administrations more rewarding.

Amber’s entire body feels hot, her heart hammering in her chest as she feels molten heat pool in her abdomen, a tight ball of tension that makes her legs weak and the space between her legs give off a dull ache for contact, making Amber’s teeth sink into her lower lip as she feels her thighs begin to press together slowly, which certainly doesn’t help considering Vi’s thigh was still present there. Though, upon noticing that, Vi pulls it away, and Amber, unwillingly, lets out a soft whine of disappointment that’s quickly turned into a sharp gasp as Vi’s right hand moves away from Amber’s breasts and takes her thighs place, the cold extremity sending shivers down Amber’s spine.

Vi looks up into Amber’s eyes, a teasing glint to her eyes, and Amber immediately dreads the incoming comment that’s preparing to leave her lips.

“Well, at least I know you’re excited,” Vi snickers, laughing when Amber groans loudly and pinches the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

“Please never speak again.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Vi smirks, and as Amber props herself on her elbows to flash a glare toward Vi, the other woman quickly moves a single finger inside her, making Amber’s eyelids fly open as her arms immediately give out, her upper back hitting the jacket Vi had laid out for her as her body jolts involuntarily, a sharp cry of pleasure leaving her lips when Vi quickly adds a second, her free hand gently rubbing the inside of Amber’s right thigh as she watches her carefully.

She didn’t expect the feeling that erupted from the two administrations in the slightest, her nails digging into the ground as her hips buck, encouraging Vi to move as the knight snorts in amusement.

“You okay, princess?”

“Just- ah,” Amber hisses out, sinking her teeth into her lip for a moment as she tries to swallow down the moan that wells up in her throat. “F...Fi..Fin- FUCK,” she exclaims out, a loud, warbling moan due to Vi having begun to move her hand in and out slowly.

“Noted,” Vi giggles, though as she slowly moves faster, encouraging more moans to bubble from Amber’s lips, she narrows her eye as Amber suddenly claps her hand over her mouth, her eyes screwed up as she moved her body in tune with Vi’s movements. Her eyes fly open, however, when Vi reaches over and pulls her hand away, pinning it down by the wrist to the ground.

“Don’t cover your mouth,” she says pointedly. “I want to hear you.”

Amber nods quickly, though as her moans grow louder from the increased feelings of pleasure hitting her Vi quickly begins to tease her again, making Amber internally wish she had the willpower right now to cover her mouth again out of pure spite.

Amber’s eyes open a little after shutting again, breathing hard as she’s hardly able to focus on what Vi is saying after a while. The pleasure blooming from Vi’s movements still surprises her at times, having never felt something like it before, and in an attempt to speak she just ends up moaning out the taller girl’s name, much to Vi’s pleasure, as the girl hums softly in approval and moves her hand faster in response.

Amber’s hips move slowly against Vi’s administrations as she writhes below her, her nails digging into the ground below her as her glassy blue gaze meets Vi’s face, mouth slightly agape as she mumbles incoherently between moans. After a minute or so, Vi clearly just enjoying watching Amber, for the most part, she pulls her hand away, much to Amber’s disappointment.

“Why’d you stop?” Amber whines, a frustrated look on her face as she furrows her brows, though an answer pops into her head when she feels Vi lean down and press her lips against her stomach, it getting even further answered when the kisses begin to travel down her belly and below.

It takes mere seconds for one of Amber’s hands to immediately travel down and tug gently on Vi’s hair, another loud moan leaving her lips as Vi’s tongue trails over her clit, a mischievous glint in her blue eye as she looks at Amber from where she was. Vi pushes Amber’s legs onto her shoulders as her name leaves Amber’s lips as a choked out cry of pleasure, the hand fisted in Vi’s hair tugging her closer less gently than before, much to Vi’s surprise, clearly, as Amber could feel her gasp softly against her skin.

After a moment, as Amber’s back began to arch, Vi pulls back to press a kiss to Amber’s inner thigh, snickering at the groan of annoyance that leaves Amber in response, and she immediately tries to tug her back closer. Vi stops it by grabbing her arm and pulling her hand away, however, lacing it with her free hand as she moves up to press her mouth against Amber’s neck, her occupied hand moving back between Amber’s legs, much to Amber’s pleasure.

Feeling Vi’s hand move faster due to it being clear Amber was about at her limit, Amber’s hands clutch at Vi’s back since the girl was positioned in a way so that she could, nails gently running over the scars littering Vi’s back, making Vi hum softly. With one or two more final movements, a mix of a cry and a moan of pleasure leaves Amber’s lips as her back arches and her hips jolt for a second, her muscles going completely rigid before they slowly relax and Amber’s back settles back against the ground as she breathes heavily, her gaze hazy as she slowly moves to look up at Vi, who had moved back, slowly shaking out the hand she had used a little, wiping her fingers off on the ground. 

Amber’s too spent to move, her legs feeling almost numb as she pants heavily, sweat coating her damp skin. Her tired blue gaze barely registers Vi as she scoots closer, the knight’s hand pressing against Amber’s cheek gently.

“You alright?” she murmurs, and Amber smiles to reassure Vi when she notices the flash of concern in her...she smiles more at the realisation, girlfriend’s blue eyes. 

“Fine, just...tired,” Amber murmurs with a weak laugh. “That completely spent all of my energy, didn’t expect that,” she laughs, as Vi snorts.

“Well, sex does that sometimes, I might’ve been a bit too intense for your first time, though, to be fair,” Vi responds, smiling sheepishly. “I just got...really into it.”

“It’s okay,” Amber replies, reaching out her hand to grasp Vi’s own. “I enjoyed every second of it.”

Vi chuckles at that. “I’d hope so, I hoped I wasn’t getting rusty, guess not.”

Amber rolls her eyes at that, hearing Vi snicker before she rustles around in the grass for a moment, returning with the chemise she’d taken off of Amber. She drops it onto her, and Amber groans.

“But I’m tired,” she whines, pouting up at Vi.

“I know, love, but you need to at least put that on,” Vi states, pulling on her shirt herself, though she doesn’t button it up, laying down on the ground as she looks up at Amber. “Can’t risk anything.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amber mutters, sitting up so she could pull on the garment. As she does that, Vi shifts a little, pulling her jacket off the ground and dusting it off before she startles Amber by putting it on her over the chemise.

“Here, just for now, you can take it off tomorrow morning,” she says, as Amber adjusts the jacket carefully before laying down beside Vi. She scoots closer until she can lay her head down on the knight’s chest, Vi’s arm wrapping around her and holding her close.

“We’ll need to wake up in the morning tomorrow,” Vi whispers. “Can’t risk someone finding out you’re missing.”

“The staff won’t enter the room without my permission, we should be fine,” Amber responds tiredly, already beginning to nod off as Vi’s fingers run through her hair. “And...Vi, thank you for tonight.”

Vi smiles and presses a kiss to Amber’s forehead. “Of course, Amber, only the best for my princess.”

“The same goes to you, my knight.”

“Your _favourite_ knight.”

“...go to sleep.”

“As you wish, my love.”

\-----------------------------------------------

Sneaking back into the castle, as Amber predicted, was easy. All they had to do was slip back in through the stables and enter the castle, and nobody questioned either of them. Though anytime they passed castle staff Amber got odd looks that confused her, some even snickering after a moment of staring at her in surprise. What was wrong? She’d smoothed her hair out before they’d come back, and she was wearing her dress again, could they notice her lack of a corset? Surely not.

Anytime she turned to ask Vi, who was now wearing her dress jacket, belt, and sword again, why people were staring, the knight would just snicker and shrug, making her suspicions even grander.

“I really do not know what everyone is staring at,” Amber states, as they enter her room, Vi kicking the door shut behind her. The knight immediately begins to sputter out laughter, a fist going over her lips to try and stop it.

“Vi? What is it? What’s so funny?”

With a sigh as she finishes laughing so hard tears pricked at the corner of her eye, Vi shakes her head in amusement, moving over and placing a firm hand on Amber’s shoulder before she steers her over to her the mirror on her vanity. “You’ll see.”

Amber rolls her eyes. “I swear, it has to be something big if you’re all snickering like children over it-” she mutters, her words dying as she catches a look at herself in the mirror, her jaw dropping slightly.

Not only was the makeup on her face incredibly smeared, especially around her lip area, but her neck and the exposed part of her collarbone were covered in dark lip paint stains alongside bruises from last night, and she whirls around to look at Vi with an enraged look on her face.

“You said I looked fine before we left!”

“Hey!” Vi holds up her hands innocently. “You _do_ look fine! I’d even say it’s an improvement, now they know you’re-”

“If my father hears _one_ word of this and you get lashed for it I will not be there to tend to your wounds this time!”

“You wouldn’t do that, because you loooove me,” Vi sings, snickering as Amber groans and shoves her face into her hands. 

“How did I get stuck with someone so _insufferable!?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time I've written a sex scene for people who...aren't my friends so...don't go at me too harshly lmfao. This...also means I need to change the tags...oopsie. But our two dweebs are finally together now! This story is nowhere near over yet, though!
> 
> Next Chapter; The ambush we've all been waiting for! And a...surprise, at least for poor Vi's case.


	11. X - The Victory

“She’s going to be alright, she’s going to be alright-”

“Amber.”

“She will be _fine_ , nothing bad is going to happen, she’ll come right through that door with her usual cocky grin stating that it went well and _nobody_ will be dead-”

_"Amber!”_

Amber pauses pacing the room for what now felt like the hundredth time to look back, blinking in surprise as if she hadn’t heard Skylar’s voice the last few times she had kept trying to get her attention. “Yeah, Sky?”

“Christ, Amber, I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past minute,” Skylar mutters, walking over to the shorter girl and grabbing her shoulders. “Take a seat and _breathe_ , the last thing we need is you having a stroke over this.”

Amber nods weakly, allowing Skylar to lead her over to her bed and push down on her shoulders gently so she’d sit on the edge. As soon as her hands come into contact with the comforter her nails dig into the soft fabric, her nerves going haywire.

Skylar kneels in front of Amber, looking her in the eyes. “Look at me.”

Amber slowly looks up from where her eyes had been fixated on her knees, looking into Skylar’s hazel eyes as the other girl sighs softly.

“Listen, I cannot promise you that everything will be fine, I refuse to make promises I can’t keep, but I also can’t sit and watch you panic all morning. Vi and Meredith wouldn’t want you panicking like this.”

“I just…” Amber stammers. “This month flew by so fast, I can’t bear losing her,” she frets, the mere idea making her heart sink.

Vi had woken Amber up as the sun had just begun to rise to give her a kiss goodbye, holding her when Amber had pulled her into a tight hug as she promised her she’d be back as soon as she could, and through Amber wholeheartedly trusted Vi she couldn’t help but worry, and it had gotten so bad that she had completely forgotten that Skylar had been supposed to come to the castle so Amber wouldn’t be waiting alone, so when the girl had walked inside her room she’d, at first, blinked at her in surprise before remembering.

The past month had been nerve-wracking, with the threat of the day Amber was now panicking during having loomed over their heads, though it’d still been one of the best months Amber had lived through, the fact that she could call Vi her _girlfriend_ still making her grin like an idiot.

A good chunk of the staff fully believed Amber and Vi were in some sort of relationship thanks to her being seen the morning after that night in the clearing a month ago, though Amber had a feeling most of them assumed it was a simple affair if anything, but since her stepfather still hadn’t shown any sign of knowing anything about her and Vi’s relationship, she wasn’t all that bothered by it.

The knight didn’t sleep in Amber’s room all the time, but she at least tried to do it twice a week, and about thrice the past month Amber had managed to sneak her way into Vi’s room in the barracks to hang out or just be with the knight, though with it being riskier than Amber’s room she didn’t do it too often, the reminder that she could do it whenever she wanted once Drake and the king were out of her hair keeping her sated.

Back in reality though, the fear of Vi not ever coming back from this fight made Amber terrified, the only thing keeping her in reality being the hug Skylar was giving her, having already likely said something to her that Amber hadn’t heard.

“She will be fine, and so will Meredith, those two aren’t going to die to some prick of a prince with compensation issues,” Skylar eventually says, moving back from the hug to clasp Amber’s shoulders gently. “You know that.”

Amber takes a deep, shaky breath, meeting Skylar’s gaze slowly as she attempts to calm down just a bit. She could do that for Vi at the very least.

“Yeah,” she breathes after a long moment of silence. “I really hope so.”

——————

“Remind me of the plan again.”

“I will, just hold on, we’re nearly there,” Meredith states, flicking her hand dismissively. “You’re going to need to be patient, God knows how long we’re going to have to wait.”

Vi huffs softly, trudging through the dew-soaked woods behind Meredith. Being clad in full plate armour didn’t exactly make her situation very easy, and she almost envied the set of simple leather and chainmail armour the thief in front of her was wearing.

After a few more long moments of agonising silence as they walked, Meredith stops at a dip right next to the road bordered by thick clumps of brambles, her palm pressing against the trunk of a large oak tree as she looks around thoughtfully, scanning the area.

“Here we are,” she says after a long moment. “Thank God we decided to do this in spring, the oak’s leaves should keep me concealed enough,” she comments, looking up toward a particularly thick set of intertwining branches and leaves. “They’ll be looking toward the trees when I snipe two or three of them down, you know.”

“Which will give me the perfect advantage when I use the distraction to run forward and rip the prince to shreds,” Vi responds with a grin, the anticipation making her almost jittery as she imagines plunging her sword into Drake’s chest or throat.

“Keep in mind,” Meredith warns, fixing an uncharacteristically serious look onto Vi. “That we’re going to have to kill, most likely, five to six people, none of them can come out of this alive or we’re both dead, you understand?” she warns. As Vi nods in response, Meredith smiles a bit. 

“Now,” the thief starts. “Here’s the plan again. I’ll be up here,” she points to the tree. “And, let’s hope, if they don’t react too fast, that I’ll be able to take out not only the coachman but also one or two guards, since they’ll come out first.”

“What about the carriage?” Vi questions, raising a brow. “The horses will surely flee as soon as the coachman dies, right?”

“That’s our...main issue,” Meredith sighs. “I didn’t even think about it until a week ago,” she sighs out. “A bolt from my crossbow could break a carriage wheel easily, and once one is broken it should teeter off balance until I shoot one more.”

“And a crossbow can only shoot one bolt before needing to be reloaded,” Vi realises grimly. “How fast are you able to reload?”

“Pretty damn fast, I’ve been using this thing for years now,” Meredith answers. “But I think shooting out one wheel should get the coachman to stop driving to investigate, if we’re lucky, so I might not have to worry about missing the second wheel.”

“When should I go out?” Vi asks. “Do you have a specific plan for that or should I just go once at least one guard is down?”

“If there are three guards I’d prefer you stay put until I take out two of them, but it’s up to you,” Meredith responds with a shrug. “Once they realise that their carriage won’t move and that someone is trying to kill them, Drake and for damn sure that advisor are going to try to run for it, likely into the woods to try and lose us,” she explains. “And the last thing we want is either of them to get away, so we either need to try and keep them on the path or, if they run into the woods, abandon the guard we might be fighting to go after them.”

“Right,” Vi mutters, trying to ignore the worry a small part of her was feeling about the situation. 

“Once you’re out there I’ll join you, I can’t risk accidentally shooting you, after all,” Meredith adds on, Vi noticing the thief pull a dagger out of one of the many sheathes on her belt to run a finger down the sharp side as if testing it. “I wouldn’t worry normally, but these are,” she chuckles. “special bolts. They pierce armour like a hot knife through butter, it’s why it took me so long to get them,” she explains. “I got them from that caravan of dwarves that comes through town ever so often, they were rather expensive but that’s what happens when you buy enchanted ammunition,” she shrugs.

“So that’s why it took you so long to get them!” Vi realises, having remembered how long it had taken Meredith to procure ammunition for the crossbow on her back well, considering anytime they had met in secret before this she’d mentioned not having them yet.

“Yeah, I was almost worried they wouldn’t get here in time, I only got them a couple of days ago,” Meredith laughs, running a hand through her hair after she sheathes the dagger she’d been holding. “I got a good amount of them, too, around twenty-five, so I’ll have plenty for...future endeavours.”

“Good,” Vi nods, smiling. “At least our chances aren’t...dismal, now, then, right?”

Meredith barks out laughter at that, shaking her head. “Vi, these are guards from _Karewyth_ ,” she snickers, a cruel smirk on her face. “Remember what I told you? Their soldiers are piss-poor drunks who use threats to make them seem tougher than they actually are, a baby could swing a sword less sloppily than they will.”

“Since this is the prince, though, they’ll be tougher than the typical knights from Karewyth though, right?” Vi tilts her head curiously, trying to plan out how she’d take the guards on when the time came.

“Mm, perhaps, but don’t get too worried, they probably miss more times than they’ve spoken in their lives, you’ll be fine.”

“Alright, then,” Vi nods, a bit reassured as she glances down the path for a moment. “Oh, one more thing,” she realises. “What about the horses?”

“The horses?” Meredith cocks a brow. “Honestly, we can just release them once we’re done, let them go roam elsewhere, it’d be a better life than those poor things ever had before,” she answers with a shrug. “I don’t really think we need to kill them, horses can’t really...talk, after all, and people are going to find out the prince is dead anyway, so there won’t be any horse slaughter today.”

Vi chuckles at that. “Got it,” she nods. “Just wanted to make sure before we jumped in.”

“Understandable,” Meredith shrugs. “But, regardless, before we get into position,” she smiles, reaching over to playfully push Vi’s shoulder. “Good luck, and don’t hesitate to call out for me if you’re in a bind, I’ll try to get over to you as fast as I can.”

“The same goes for you,” Vi responds, smirking as she pushes Meredith back. “Don’t go dying on my watch.”

“You don’t, either, but I don’t think I need to tell you that,” Meredith shoots back with a knowing smile. “You’ve got someone to keep you alive, now.”

“True,” Vi murmurs, watching as Meredith turns and begins to climb up into the oak tree, grunting softly as she pulls herself into the leaf-covered branches above and disappears. “I can’t die now, not going to happen,” she adds, a mere whisper as she reaches up and sets her helmet’s visor over her face before crouching in the dip beside the pathway, unsheathing her dagger and keeping it close as she watches and listens.

It feels like hours pass before Vi hears the telltale sound of carriage wheels on the pathway, and she peers through the bushes in front of her, spotting an extravagant carriage only a royal would ride in heading down the path, the other sign of it being Drake’s being the banner tapestries with the Karewyth crest on them. She hears leaves rustle as she assumes Meredith adjusts her crossbow, and her grip on her dagger tightens.

As soon as the carriage passes the bushes Vi was hiding behind, a sharp crack rings out in the air as a bolt flies out from the tree above, sailing through the air before it makes a direct hit into the front right wheel of the carriage, the impact, to Vi’s surprise, and most definitely Meredith’s as well, telling by the gasp Vi hears, shattering the wheel so badly the carriage buckles and nearly topples to the side. Vi hears a click as Meredith quickly reloads the crossbow, and before the coachman could do anything, whether it be a feeble attempt to get away or stop the carriage, another crack rings out and the back right wheel breaks nearly in half, sending the carriage to the ground. It wasn’t on it’s side, but it was perched haphazardly diagonally, and the coachman jumps off his seat and onto the ground, eyes wide as he rushes over to look at the damage. As he does, Vi hears another click, and knows it’s just a matter of time before it’d be time for her to run out as, from the other side of the carriage, she hears a door slam open as she assumes a guard begins to exit.

A crack once again rings out in the air, and the coachman has no chance to even try dodging it, and Vi guesses the man didn’t even see the bolt coming, as he barely has time to turn around before the sharp piece of metal hits his head. There’s a disgustingly loud crack as Vi assumes his skull shatters, blood splattering on the ivory-coloured carriage, and the coachman’s body hits the side of the carriage with a loud thump, his body crumpling as he sinks to the ground, his blood already beginning to pool on the ground, a crimson smear from where he slid against the carriage’s side left above him.

It makes Vi grimace, though she doesn’t feel sick, being too desensitised to violence to really feel much. Plus, she wasn’t too fond of anyone who allied themselves with the prince, anyways.

There’s a shout as loud footsteps ring out, and the first guard that appears on the other side barely even gets to yell out in shock before another crack rings out and he hits the ground with a thud in seconds, a spray of blood having left his skull as the bolt pierced it. 

_‘Idiot,’_ Vi thinks, snickering to herself. _‘He didn’t even consider putting his helmet on before leaving the carriage.’_

A familiar voice, Drake’s voice, rings out suddenly, panicked and confused, and Vi sees two more guards appear, the prince’s advisor behind them as he gazes at the corpses in utter shock. Vi waits for the final shot from Meredith’s crossbow, slowly moving into a position that would give her easy access to run as fast as she could as she hears a click.

The last two guards are wearing helmets, but as Meredith promised, the bolt that fires from her weapon this time hits the closest guard and Vi watches in awe as the bolt seemed to melt the helmet on contact, embedding itself in the guard’s skull as he collapses, and as soon as he does Vi bursts out of the bushes, shocking the last guard and the advisor, though before the guard could even do anything Vi shoves past him, running a few more feet before she suddenly halts in place, the dagger in her grasp flying out of her hand as she flings it directly at the advisor, the blade hitting him right on the mark as it sinks into his chest. He hadn’t even had a moment to process Vi, and he blinks at her in utter shock as he suddenly coughs, a dark red stain slowly growing on his chest before he collapses to the ground. She hardly has time to move before she hears a sharp whistle and Vi whirls around, sword unsheathing and meeting the previously shoved guard’s greatsword with a screech of metal scraping against metal.

“Meredith!” she calls out, gritting her teeth as she pushes against her opponent, trying to knock him off balance. “Get Drake before he runs off!”

Vi doesn’t get a response outside of a thump as Meredith leaps down from the tree, sprinting past Vi and behind the carriage. Vi looks up into the visor of the guard she was fighting through her own, growling as she slowly adjusts her stance and begins to easily push the larger man back. 

_‘His stance is unbalanced, if he was actually standing right he might be able to shove me to the ground,’_ she remarks in her head, smirking as she suddenly lifts her leg up and kicks the guard in the gut. He, like the other guard, was wearing chainmail, so it wasn’t as effective as, say, a kick to someone in leather armour, but it had enough of an effect, as he groans and backs up, and Vi could tell it was taking everything in the other knight not to instinctively cover his stomach. He swings out wildly with his sword, clearly just trying to keep Vi away at this point, though Vi parries each swing easily, and on one last feeble swipe Vi strikes out aggressively, her sword missing the guard’s sword on her own intention, hitting his wrist instead. It doesn’t cut the extremity off entirely, though with the force she was using she cuts deep to the bone, likely shattering the guard’s wrist as well as he immediately drops his sword with a howl of pain, backing up as his unwounded hand grabs his wrist to desperately try and stop the bleeding, as if forgetting Vi was there.

“Pathetic,” Vi mutters, striking out with her leg in a low arc to trip the injured guard, knocking him to the ground with little trouble. He looks up, dazed, and Vi hears a few whimpers that sound like begs for mercy, though she ignores them, kicking him flat on his back, her foot on his chest, before she plunges her sword through the guard’s throat, the feeble whimpers turning into gurgles as his windpipe is severed, blood already beginning to spill from his lips as his head lolls back, and Vi removes her sword with a huff, not taking the time to watch as she rushes behind the carriage, ready to spot Meredith possibly restraining Drake so she could kill him.

What she finds, however, is Meredith struggling against a guard with a mace as Drake cowers nearby. The addition of a fourth guard had clearly surprised the thief, and Vi grimaces a little upon spotting a jagged gash on the side of Meredith’s skull; she’d likely narrowly missed having her head smashed in by the mace the guard was using. 

Not wasting any more time, Vi rushes forward, shoving the guard off of Meredith. The shock nearly makes him topple, though, to Vi’s disappointment, he doesn’t, looking between the two women for a moment as Meredith slowly takes a stance beside Vi.

“Thank you,” Meredith says, breathing heavily. “The bastard caught me off guard if you didn’t notice the gash.”

“We both thought it’d be only three guards,” Vi mutters in response. “And I certainly only expected there to be swords used,” she adds with a growl as Drake looks up, clearly recognising Vi’s armour, at least.

“What are you waiting for, you idiot!” he shrieks, his voice shrill and grating to Vi’s ears. “Kill them!”

The guard nods and takes one step before lunging forward, swinging the mace right at Vi this time. Vi parries the weapon by the handle, gritting her teeth, though her eye spots Drake shakily get up and look around before turning toward the woods, and panic surges through Vi, realising the prince might try to run.

 _‘He could get away! Damn it!’_ she curses in her head, being slowly pushed toward the ground due to her growing distracted, though Meredith seemed to have noticed Drake too, as she suddenly leaps for the guard while he was busy holding Vi off, using his now slightly hunched back as an advantage as she grabs onto his shoulders from behind him. The guard barely has time to react, starting backwards in shock as Meredith quickly climbs onto him. She rips off his helmet with ease by the chin, and, wrapping her arm around his mouth to hold on, raises her armed hand up and plunges the dagger into the guard’s bared throat, tearing a jagged gash into the man’s jugular before she lets go.

“GO!” she yells toward Vi as Drake bolts into the woodland. The guard lurches, swiping at Meredith, and she barely avoids being hit before easily knocking the mace from his slowly weakening grip. “I’ve got this! Go after him!”

Vi doesn’t even hesitate, sprinting past Meredith and into the woodland after the prince. Her armour slows her down, to her chagrin, however, Drake also clearly wasn’t used to traversing through woodland, and she could hear the boy wheezing and cursing as he tore through branches in an attempt to escape. Because of this, it doesn’t take long for Drake to stumble, and Vi takes the time given to her by the prince’s stumble to lunge forward, tackling Drake to the ground. Her armour’s weight added onto her own easily keeps Drake down, likely knocking the air out of him as Vi slowly gets up, grabbing him roughly by the back of his shirt and dragging him over to the nearest tree. There, Vi lifts Drake up and slams him against the rough trunk with no remorse as she barely keeps herself from wrapping her fingers around the prince’s throat and crushing his windpipe.

“Interesting,” Vi comments as Drake writhes around desperately. “This seems awfully familiar, doesn’t it, your majesty?” she comments, saying the formal name in a shrill, mocking tone as she regards him coolly.

“You-” Drake wheezes, glaring down at Vi with pure vitriol in his brown eyes. “You won’t get away-”

“Oh, I will,” Vi chuckles cruelly, her gaze boring into the prince. “You have no idea how easy it is to get away with murder when you’re in power, though I’m sure you would’ve known, had you not been so cocky about your plans.”

Drake’s eyes widen in shock, and it takes him a while to respond, swallowing air as Vi finally gets to see an emotion she’d longed to see in his eyes since the first night she’d confronted him like this; dread.

“But don’t worry!” Vi suddenly says, smirking cockily. “Because when you do die, which will be soon, I’m not really in the mood to talk to you much longer, I hope you do know that I’ll be keeping your betrothed plenty safe for you, in my arms where she belongs,” she grins broadly as Drake starts thrashing around after that. “Though I’ve been already doing that for the past month now, so I suppose I have a head start, perhaps if you weren’t such a cunt you’d be able to see her actually smile genuinely at you, it’s quite beautiful-”

She’s cut off feeling a stinging feeling on her side, and notices that the prince, in his desperate attempt to free himself, he’d pulled a dagger out, where it came from on him, Vi didn’t know, nor did she really care, and had attempted to stab her between the plates of steel on her armour, though with how thick the padding part was it only maybe made it half an inch into her skin. She snorts dryly and uses her free hand to pull it out, glancing at the sheen of blood on the tip of the blade for a moment as if contemplating something before she abruptly sinks the blade right into Drake’s stomach, the prince shrieking in agony as Vi huffs.

“This,” she mutters, slowly twisting the blade. “Is for you being the reason I got lashed,” she adds. “If I could lash you to death I would, believe me, but I sadly cannot, so instead I’ll just...try to equate the pain I felt with this,” she shrugs. “Probably isn’t the same, wouldn’t know, I’ve never been stabbed there before, but I know for a fact that getting stabbed in your organs isn’t _fun._ ”

Vi yanks the blade out after a long moment, twisting it contemplatively in her hand. “Now, Drake, I’m not one for torture, I really don’t like it myself, and I’m tired of looking at you, so I’ll end this now, alright? Take it as a gift from me, if anything,” she states calmly, before swiftly plunging the dagger into the prince’s chest, Drake’s eyes widening in terror as he hacks out some sort of noise that sounded to Vi like a croak of pain of some sort, and her face screws up when blood splatters on her helmet’s visor because of it before she lets go of Drake and lets him slowly sink down the trunk of the tree, blood staining the entire front of his shirt as he begins to spasm.

“ _That_ is for Amber,” Vi mutters coldly, watching as blood slowly begins to soak into the grass below. It’d take a few minutes at most for Drake to die, she reckons, but Vi knows there’s no recovering from the wounds the prince has, leaving him to die wouldn’t end in him coming back, he was a dead man at this point, and with a huff, Vi turns and leaves him as soon as she notices his eyes glaze over and his spasms turn to twitches.

There’s blood all over her hands, she’d ripped the dagger out before leaving him, and upon emerging from the woodland, the first thing she does is drop it next to the guard with the mace, who was now lying dead on his back, blood pooling around his head from the jagged wound on his throat. She turns upon hearing footsteps, spotting Meredith limping over.

“You’re-”

“I’m fine,” Meredith interrupts, stopping as she stands in front of Vi, smiling crookedly. “I twisted my ankle trying to scramble away from him,” she adds, nodding toward the guard Vi had just passed. “Seemed like he was hellbent on taking me out with him, but, as you can see, that didn’t really work out for him.”

“How about your head?” Vi asks, glancing at the gash on the thief’s head. It was right above her ear, about maybe two and a half inches long, and though it wasn’t bleeding at a dangerous level it was still bleeding a little.

“He didn’t hit me with the mace, one of the spikes on it cut that, thank God,” Meredith responds, shuddering at the idea. “It hurts like a bitch but I’ll survive, just another scar to add to the collection,” she shrugs with a laugh.

“Right,” Vi responds, moving to lean against the carriage with a sigh. She slowly removes her helmet, wiping sweat off her brow as she watches Meredith limp over toward the horses left by the carriage, the two equines anxious and pulling against their binds due to all the sudden commotion. Meredith reaches out a hand carefully, stroking the flank of one of them, a jet black mare, gently.

“So, the deed is done?” the thief questions, as she moves to the side to prepare to cut the bindings keeping the horses from moving. Vi slowly moves over to handle the other horse, a chestnut stallion, using her sword to saw through the tough leather bindings. The mare is released first, and at first, she stays still, a low chuff leaving it’s muzzle before she seems to realise she’s free and takes one step forward before taking off at a quick gallop, the stallion quickly following suit once Vi manages to remove it’s bindings. She watches the two horses run down the path and disappear over the hill it was leading up to, sighing softly.

“Yeah,” Vi finally answers, nodding at Meredith. “He’s dead.”

“Good,” Meredith nods back, turning to look at the massacre behind them. “Once we’re gone the next person who finds them will just think a band of mercenaries or rogues killed them, it’s messy enough to look like a mercenary’s job.

“They can’t trace your crossbow bolts, right?”

Meredith shakes her head. “Nope, we’re safe,” she answers. She looks over at Vi with a slight grin. “But we should get going now, the last thing we need is someone finding us.”

Vi nods in response to that, moving past all the guards as she reaches the corpse of the advisor. She pulls her dagger from his chest cavity with no real effort, wipes the blood on the blade on his coat, and sheathes it before turning around to glance at Meredith. “Come on, we need to wash ourselves off before we get back, I know a place.”

“Alright, lead the way,” Meredith responds, and as Vi enters the woodland she hears Meredith slowly follow, leaving the carriage and the bloody scene behind.

 _‘Now at least one threat is gone,’_ she thinks, pushing past low-hanging branches. _‘Amber doesn’t have to pretend to love someone she doesn’t anymore, and I got my revenge on the prick who got me lashed. Now we just need to deal with the king.’_

After a long while of walking, Vi worrying for a bit that they might have gotten lost, she pushes past a few bushes only to enter the clearing, and a smile breaches her lips for a moment as she immediately remembers the night that she and Amber spent the night here during, almost swearing she could hear the giggles that left Amber’s lips when they had played in the stream nearby as she neared the water.

Meredith follows, slowly sitting down beside the creek as Vi does first. “Damn,” she whistles, looking around. “This is a nice spot, when’d you find this?”

“It’s Amber’s, not mine,” Vi responds. “She used to come here by herself to think, once I found her here one time though she kinda...made it our place, in a way,” she adds in explanation. “A place we could be with one another and not have to filter what we say or do.”

“Huh,” Meredith responds, nodding. “So this is like...a refuge of sorts for you, then?” she tries, shrugging. “This does seem like a place Amber would like, hell, I think I’ve seen her drawings of hers on this place, now that I think of it.”

Vi thinks about that as she washes the blood off her hands in the water. “I suppose, yeah,” she eventually answers. “I mean,” she smiles, nudging Meredith as she reaches out, pointing to a spot in the middle of the creek. “That’s where Amber and I kissed for the first time.”

“Oh?” Meredith’s brows raise as she gingerly soaks her sleeve before beginning to try and clean some of the blood on the side of her head off. “That’s cute, Amber did mention that you two got together somewhere special, now that I think of it.”

“Yeah,” Vi nods before a sudden chuckle leaves her lips as she remembers how Amber had fallen into the creek trying to kiss her a second time. “She fell in the creek after we kissed, you know, and it was pretty fucking hilarious until she dragged me in with her.”

Meredith laughs at that, turning to watch Vi wash the blood off of her armour and helmet. “Sounds like that night was a fun one, then.”

“You could say that, yeah,” Vi responds, a smirk growing on her lips as she thought of other details about the night they were discussing.

After that short conversation, Vi finishes up and Meredith cleans herself off as much as she could before they head back to the castle, Vi sneaking Meredith in using the stable entrance. They, to Vi’s relief, encounter no staff on the way to Amber’s room, though upon entry Vi’s suddenly nearly tackled by a small strawberry-blonde blur, who hugs Vi tightly as soon as she’s able to get a grip around her. It reminds Vi of the small wound on her side, and she grimaces as it’s irritated by the tight embrace, though Vi ignores it to hug Amber back, smiling as she presses her face into the princess’ hair.

“Thank God,” Amber whispers, moving back a bit to look up at Vi’s face. “God, I thought- it was past noon a while ago so I thought-”

“Shhh,” Vi whispers, immediately placing her hands on Amber’s cheeks gently. “It’s alright, I’m fine, love,” she adds, leaning down to press a chaste kiss to her girlfriend’s lips. “I’m just going to be sore as all hell tomorrow.”

 

Meredith sidles over slowly. “Yeah, you should’ve seen her, Amb, she did _amazing._ ”

Amber moves out of Vi’s embrace to look over at Meredith, her eyes widening at the wound on her skull. “Oh my God, Mer, your _head-_ ”

“Don’t worry about it, it looks worse than it feels,” Meredith responds, though Skylar walks over to get a closer look as she speaks.

“What the hell happened there? That doesn’t look like a sword wound,” she remarks, pulling on Meredith’s arm so she could get an even closer look as the thief stoops down a little.

“There was a fourth guard,” Meredith explains. “He had a mace and I barely avoided getting my head smashed in, but one of the spikes on his mace got me, but don’t worry about it, I’ll just get that one healer in town to patch me up, she likes me.”

“I saw you limping, too, what’s that about-”

“Twisted my ankle trying to get away from the guard with the mace after I tore open his throat,” Meredith says bluntly, the image making Skylar’s nose scrunch up in disgust. “Don’t worry about me, Sky, I’ll live.”

“That reminds me,” Vi mutters, glancing down at her side. “Drake got me a bit in the side, not bad, but I should check it just in case,” she remarks, jumping as Amber’s hands already wander over to the clasps on her armour.

“I’ve got it,” she insists, undoing the clasps with ease. Meredith notices it as she glances over at the two, and a small, amused smirk appears on her lips.

“Gee, Vi, Amber sure seems used to taking your armour off for you, she’s pretty quick,” she comments airily. “You’d almost think she does it...often.”

Vi can’t help but flash a smug smirk over at Meredith as Amber stiffens, and the knight snorts as Skylar thwacks Meredith’s uninjured side of her head sharply.

“Quit that,” she scolds with a roll of her eyes. “Did that blow on your head degrade your mind into the one of a thirteen-year-old boy?”

Meredith laughs at that. “Sorry, blood loss turns me into a child,” she shrugs, playfully winking at Vi when Skylar looks away. 

Amber helps Vi take the top part of her armour off and Vi pulls up the shirt she had been wearing below so Amber could look at the wound. When Vi glances at it she shrugs a little. It didn’t look nearly as bad as she thought it might, she was pretty sure the wound had already stopped bleeding, actually, appearing like a thin cut on the outside. Blood stained the skin around it and stained the lower part and hem of the part of her shirt that had been resting over it, a small tear in the fabric.

“See? Nothing to worry about, love,” Vi states with a smile as Amber looks up at her. “It’s already closing, I doubt we’ll even need bandages.

“Forgive me for worrying over my girlfriend’s wellbeing,” Amber fires back, though her tone isn’t snappish, it’s more exasperated than anything. “Let me go get something to clean the blood off of you, at least.

“Go ahead,” Vi nods, watching Amber disappear as she heads to the bathroom, reappearing a moment later with two damp cloths. She hands one over to Skylar first so she could help Meredith before moving back to Vi, immediately crouching a little to start wiping the blood off of her.

 

“Hey, Amb?” Skylar calls as she moves away from where Meredith was sitting on the bed. The thief’s head looked much better now, but the gash still looked ugly, the blood flow having slowed substantially. “I think I’m gonna head out so I can take Meredith to get this properly treated, are you and Vi gonna be alright alone here?”

“More than alright,” Vi smirks, wiggling her brows as Amber groans.

“We’ll be okay, you be careful on your way out, Sky,” Amber responds with a roll of her eyes. 

“We will, don’t worry,” Skylar nods, hoisting Meredith up and draping one of the taller girl’s arms over her shoulders to help her walk with her limp. 

“Oh, oh, wait,” Meredith says, looking back over at Vi. “Vi, when I get the chance I’ll see you in a few days to talk about the plan regarding the king, if Amber doesn’t lock you up here that is.”

Vi laughs at that. “You say that as if I wouldn’t _like_ that,” she jokes, waving as Meredith waves goodbye. “Thank you for helping me, Mer.”

“Anytime, Vi, or, well,” Meredith laughs as she heads out with Skylar. “Anytime I’m not injured.”

The door shuts behind the two as they leave through it, and once it does Amber sighs, peering up at Vi.

“I’m so happy you’re alright,” the princess breathes, setting the bloodied cloth aside. “I spent all morning pacing around here thinking the worst scenarios...Skylar looked like she was going to grow a few grey hairs trying to calm me down.”

Vi chuckles, leaning down to press a kiss to Amber’s forehead. “You worry too much, I was made your guard for a reason, my love.”

“To give me an aneurysm?”

Vi snorts involuntarily at that, rolling her eye as she goes to sit on the bed, smiling as Amber sits down beside her. The smaller girl leans up against her, sighing softly as her hand rests on Vi’s thigh, and Vi wraps an arm around her waist before kissing the side of her head affectionately.

“How does it feel to be halfway free?” Vi questions after a minute of silence, running her fingers up and down Amber’s waist gently. 

“I’m still…I dunno, shocked, I guess? It’s so surreal to realise that he’s...gone now,” Amber admits, smiling slightly. “I hope you gave him hell.”

“Oh, I did,” Vi confirms, smirking. “Nobody is going to make my girlfriend’s life hell and hurt me and not get punished for it,” she adds pointedly.”

“Good,” Amber nods, turning her head a little to kiss Vi’s cheek. The gesture makes Vi’s smirk melt into a smile as she glances at Amber.

“Another one of your thank you kisses?” she guesses, as Amber chuckles softly.

“Mm, that and just because I like kissing you,” Amber murmurs, smiling as Vi turns to fully look at her.

“You should do it more, then,” she impels, smirking playfully as her eye traces every feature on Amber’s face. Amber rolls her eyes in response to that, but leans up and kisses Vi chastely, though as she pulls away Vi grasps the collar of her gown and pulls her back in, making a muffled squeak of surprise leave Amber’s lips before she kisses her back, humming softly in appreciation as Vi’s fingers thread their way through her hair. 

Once Vi pulls away after a few more moments, she smirks and presses another quick kiss to Amber’s nose, keeping their foreheads pressed together.

“I love you...so much,” she whispers, her smirk softening into a warm smile again as she regards the princess before her lovingly. Amber smiles bashfully, her cheeks reddening for a moment.

“I love you just as much,” she responds, giggling as Vi moves to kiss her freckles gently. “Maybe even more.”

“Don’t make that a challenge, now,” Vi warns playfully between kisses on Amber’s skin. “Because I will win.”

In response, Amber grabs Vi’s chin to make her look into her eyes again, a wry smirk on the princess’ lips. “Cocky as always,” she murmurs teasingly, giggling as Vi sticks her tongue out at her in response.

“You love it,” she insists.

“Oh, I do,” Amber responds, moving up as her lips brush up against the freckles dotting Vi’s own skin. “I just also like reminding you.”

Unfortunately, after a few minutes pass, Vi’s hit with a wave of exhaustion from having woken up so early after a rather restless bout of sleep the night prior, and she yawns softly, a laugh bubbling from her lips as Amber immediately pushes Vi down onto the mattress in response.

“Nap time?” The princess asks, tilting her head as Vi nods, already feeling her eye grow lidded a little as she slowly shifts to settle on the soft bed, not even caring to take off the armour on her legs and feet, though Amber clearly does, as she feels the shorter girl move over to pull off the steel-plated boots she’d been wearing, setting them down on the floor beside the bed.”

“You don’t need to remove my armour, love,” Vi murmurs, watching Amber as she moves to undo the straps on Vi’s legs. 

“I want you to be comfortable,” Amber argues, continuing in undoing the armour straps. She eventually gets it all undone and pulls it all off, pushing it off the bed. It falls to the ground unceremoniously, landing on the hard floor with a loud clatter, and Vi rolls her eye in faint amusement as Amber crawls over and curls up beside her.

“You’re adorable,” Vi murmurs, smiling tiredly as Amber’s face nuzzles into her neck.

“Mm,” Amber murmurs, lips brushing against Vi’s neck just slightly as she gets comfortable. “When we wake up I’ll bet you the entire castle will have been alerted,” she smiles. “So see you then.”

“See you then,” Vi repeats, shutting her eye as she drifts off into sleep.

—————————

Amber’s woken up when there’s a sudden loud knocking on the door, and Vi grumbles softly beside her, turning over and shoving her face into one of the pillows as she tries to fall back asleep.

Amber gets up, leaving her grumbling girlfriend to complain as she drowsily wobbles over to the door, wiping sleep from her eyes with her hands as she yawns quietly. She fumbles with the handle on her door for a moment before twisting it clumsily, opening it slightly, peering out of the crack she made only to be met with her mother’s face.

“Mother…?” Amber murmurs, blinking blearily with visible confusion in her pale blue eyes. “What’s going on?”

“We need to talk,” her mother says, her tone grave. “Can I come in?”

Amber’s face blanches for a moment, and she glances back over where Vi’s still laying on the bed, her teeth sinking into her lip. “Uh...do you have to?”

“I…” Lorelei squints, tilting her head. “No, but I would prefer-”

“Okay, well, you’re going to need to give me a moment,” Amber smiles awkwardly. “I’m...er...underdressed!”

“Amber, I am your mother, and this is important,” Lorelei rebukes sternly. “Just let me talk to you in private for a moment, then you can get back to whatever it is you were doing.”

“Mother, please, just let me-”

“Just _what_ are you hiding in there that you’re so against me seeing, Amber? I’m not your stepfather, I’m not going to punish you, just let me-”

“No!”

Clearly, Lorelei wasn’t used to her daughter responding that sharply, as she blinks rapidly before her eyes narrow, and Amber immediately regrets snapping. “Open the door.”

“Mother-”

Lorelei grabs the handle from the outside and pushes. “I said _open the door!_ ” she exclaims, pushing harder afterwards. Amber, who was still half-asleep, gets shoved back because of it, jarred as she stumbles backwards. Lorelei pushes her way inside her room before pushing the door closed.

“Now what is it you so desperately want to hide-” the queen starts, before her eyes trail over to the bed. The queen’s voice seems to make Vi start awake immediately, whirling on her back as she spots Lorelei, eye wide with shock.

“You- Your Highness?!” she gasps out, the speed at which she flipped over nearly making Vi fall out of the bed as Amber panics.

“It’s-It’s not what it looks like,” Amber stammers, the look of complete and utter surprise on her mother’s face terrifying her. “She- she’s just.”

“Oh...my God.”

“She’s just _resting_ , mother, I swear-”

“And you were resting with her? You look like you just got out of bed,” Lorelei turns, raising a brow curiously. “And you were so insistent I didn’t find out? That doesn’t sound like “just friends” to me, Amber.”

Amber sinks her teeth into her lip. “Mother, I-”

“God, look, Amber, I don’t care,” Lorelei laughs bitterly, shaking her head. “Whatever...this is, I do not care, but we have pressing matters at hand.”

“You’re...you’re not going to tell Joseph, righ-”

“Amber,” Lorelei looks _exhausted_ , Amber notices, her hair dishevelled as she rubs her temples slowly. “Are you happy?”

Amber blinks once, a confused look appearing on her face. “...yes?”

“Then I won’t tell him a thing, but that’s far from the point right now,” Lorelei clasps her hands together, taking a long, deep breath. “A merchant on his way to Nirith found Drake’s carriage damaged, and...none of the inhabitants of it seemed to have made it out alive. They found Drake’s body a bit deeper in the woods, stabbed twice.”

It takes every amount of restraint in Amber’s being to keep her from smiling at the news that her betrothed was dead again, and she instead forces herself to feign shock. “W-What?! He’s dead? But...how?”

“They’re assuming mercenaries,” Lorelei sighs, shaking her head. “I know neither of us liked him, but this is...if there are mercenaries around the roads carriages go down this is not good, your father is...enraged, to say the least.”

“Guess we can call the wedding off, then,” Amber says dryly, partially unintentionally as her mother fixes her with an exasperated look.

“Not funny,” she chides. “Both of us disliked him but this...is bad, there could be more deaths caused if we don’t find the group that did this.”

“I don’t even leave the kingdom, anyways, mother,” Amber states. “Shouldn’t you be discussing this with your court?” she questions, her eyes narrowing as she decides to get a little bold with her next comment, taking a deep breath. “Besides, I’d like to spend as much time as I can with Vi before a certain king pairs me off with some other arrogant little twat for his own gain.”

Lorelei’s eyes widen a little, and she glances at where Vi’s sitting, utterly bewildered from the queen’s presence still, and she looks back at Amber, taking a deep breath. “You know, I knew something good would come out of assigning her to you,” she admits. “I didn’t expect this, but...at least you seem happier,” she adds. “I’ll...try to hold your stepfather off from assigning you another betrothed as long as I can, but I need to get going, you’re right, the court will be expecting my presence soon.”

As Amber begins to nod, scowling to herself as she reminds herself in her head that her mother could simply just kick the king out of the castle, she’s startled when her mother speaks again.

“Though, actually, since she’s here now, Vi, I have been meaning to speak to you regarding this...event,” she comments, turning to look at the knight. Amber blinks, surprised, though a coil of dread settles in her gut, wondering what exactly her mother wanted to discuss with her girlfriend. “Can you come talk with me out in the hall for a moment?”

 _‘What if she suspects her? What if she knows she did it? I can’t lose Vi now, we’ve gotten this far!’_ she thinks, forcing herself not to try to stop her mother despite the fact that as soon as her mother saw the stain of blood on Vi’s shirt, she’d likely start questioning things.

“Er,” Vi responds, slowly trying to regain composure. “I’d love to, your highness, but I got cut in training earlier this morning while trying to help some of the newer knights, you see, and I’m trying not to move the wound,” she explains. 

Amber quickly chimes in to try and help. “I can go out in the hall and wait if you’d like, mother.”

Lorelei sighs, but waves Amber off with a dismissive flick of her hand. “Fine, go out there, I’ll come out when I’m done and you can come back in,” she responds, and Amber wastes no time before she quickly scampers out the door, shutting it behind her.

As soon as she shuts the door it takes everything in Amber not to sink down it and sit, every part of her on edge as she wrings her hands together.

“This was _not_ how I wanted my mother to find out about this,” she whispers to herself, groaning as she rests her head against the door. Her mother must be talking lowly since Amber couldn’t catch a word beyond the wooden surface she leaned against.

 _‘God forbid she demotes Vi because of her being my personal guard, she wouldn’t do that, right?’_ she thinks, biting her lip. _‘No, no, she wouldn’t, that wouldn’t make any sense, mother wouldn’t do that to me.’_

The wait feels agonisingly long, too long, and when the queen finally exits her room Amber beams because she’ll at least be able to get back in bed with her girlfriend for a bit longer, if not just be with her.

“I’ll tell your stepfather you’re too overcome with grief to attend any meetings for you,” Lorelei whispers, pressing a kiss to Amber’s forehead. “Go spend time with her.”

A slight smile appears on Amber’s lips at that, and she nods. “Thanks, mother.”

Lorelei nods, smiling warmly at her daughter. “Of course,” she murmurs, before turning and heading down the hall. Amber wastes no time, entering her room again. Vi looks up at her as she does, smiling slightly at her.

“I hope she didn’t say anything bad to you,” Amber starts, getting back into the previous place she’d been on the bed. 

Vi laughs. “No, but she did manage to thread in a “If you so much as hurt my daughter I’ll have you executed” threat inside an “I need you to work a little harder to keep my daughter safe and secure just in case these “mercenaries”,” she makes air quotes at that. “Attack again” request, which was terrifying in itself.”

Amber groans, rolling her eyes as she flops back down onto her back. “God, of course she did,” she says, though she’s unable to stop herself from giggling. “That sounds like my mother, alright.”

 

“Mhm,” Vi murmurs, turning so she could wrap her arms around Amber as she turns. Amber grins, feeling Vi kiss the nape of her neck and any of the other exposed skin around her back and shoulders as their legs twine together. “Lucky for you I don’t plan on hurting you anytime soon.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Amber chuckles, feeling comfortable as she feels Vi rest her face against the back of her neck. “And here I was worrying.”

Feeling Vi smirk against her skin, Amber shudders a little, her teeth worrying her lower lip a little as she feels Vi’s lips part. “Well, I’m glad you don’t, then.”

\----------------------------

The events over the next week almost seem to make Vi a little _too_ cocky, much to Amber’s both amusement and exasperation. The close calls the two had ended up getting into because of Vi’s bravado make Amber surprised she hasn’t fallen over and died from a heart attack at this point.

From cheeky kisses to her cheeks, head, or even throat at times when others looked away to comments that managed to become _way_ too subliminal for their own good, Vi’s ego had skyrocketed, and though Amber didn’t find the words and touches _unattractive_ , she wasn’t a big fan of having to find excuses for why her face would get red randomly while Vi smiled innocently next to her.

The prince’s death had caused a rather interesting uproar in the kingdom. Though most citizens fretted over the idea of mercenaries or murderers, according to Meredith, apparently, she’d spotted a few people heckling over the prince dying, likely former citizens of Karewyth or people who knew firsthand how horrible Drake had been. It’d apparently gotten so far that, a couple days after his death was announced, Skylar had mentioned, after meeting Amber and Vi in the tavern, that she’d spotted someone the night prior holding a toast to the prince’s death. According to her, the man had toasted both his death and the people who killed him before his friends had yanked him off the table he’d stood on and dragged him out of the tavern before he could get himself arrested for publicly celebrating a royal’s demise.

The king, as expected, was enraged, and Amber had heard mentions of guards being forced to patrol the ways carriages would travel in the forest, as well as extra guards being enlisted to guard carriages of higher-ups. It hadn’t really affected Amber’s day-to-day experiences yet, so Amber didn’t really care much, though she found herself growing annoyed at the constant murmurings about who he next betrothed might be.

 _‘I certainly won’t be getting another one for a good while, I haven’t seen a royal even try coming here since the attack, perhaps they’ll be too frightened to risk it even if Joseph asks them to take my hand in marriage,’_ Amber remarks coolly in her head as she enters the barracks. There’d be hardly any knights in at this time, most were out training, on duty, or were milling about the town square, though she knew Vi wasn’t doing any of that, and was, in fact, hopefully waiting for her in her quarters.

There’s only one guard in the barracks when Amber enters, a young one by the looks of him, who was half asleep at one of the tables. He blearily spares a glance at Amber for a moment, his tired brown eyes glassy as he squints, as if forgetting who she was for a moment, whether in disbelief or surprise, Amber didn’t quite know. It takes him a moment to realise the princess is only a few feet from him, and the sinewy young man immediately jolts up and pushes himself into a sloppy bow, eyes wide as a stammered out “Y-Your Majesty!” leaves his lips. It makes Amber giggle, dismissively flicking her wrist as she strides past him.

“Go back to sleep, I’m just here to see my guard,” she responds, an amused look on her face as the young knight nods dumbly, as if utterly shocked he’d managed to get so close to her, before shakily taking a seat again, occasionally glancing at Amber as she began to ascend the main staircase as if checking if she’d disappear.

 _‘He must be new, with the way he reacted,’_ the princess comments internally, giggling still as she reaches Vi’s door, knocking on it gently just in case the knight wasn’t there. She hears a slightly muted surprised noise through the door before Amber hears a door handle being turned and she watches as the door opens, revealing Vi, who blinks down at her girlfriend before grinning broadly.

“Hey,” she murmurs, opening the door wide enough so Amber could enter before shutting it behind her. “There you are, I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

Amber giggles at that, not sparing a glance toward the knight yet as she looked around. She’d been in Vi’s room, of course, but she still liked to look around as if she had entered a new room. Perhaps it was just to see if anything new struck her eye, Amber didn’t really know herself.

“You’re beginning to sound like me,” she finally remarks, smiling slightly as she feels Vi’s arms snake around her waist, tugging her up against her from behind. “Worrying so much…”

“Mm,” Vi hums, pressing her lips against the back of Amber’s head. “It _is_ kind of my job to worry about you, you know.”

“True,” Amber admits with a nod. “But…” she turns, gazing up at Vi’s face as a coquettish grin forms on her lips. “You’re not working right now, are you?”

Vi glances down at herself. She wasn’t wearing armour at the moment, in the normal trousers and linen shirt she wore when not on duty, and she looks back at Amber with a playful look in her eye. “I suppose I’m not,” she mutters, and Amber’s grin only widens as Vi begins to push her gently backwards. “There wasn’t anyone in the barracks when you came in?” 

Amber’s teeth sink into her lip for a moment as the small of her back presses against the edge of Vi’s wooden desk, and her hands reach back and grasp the smooth surface as Vi looms over her. “Just one boy, real tall, red hair, little sinewy, ring any bells?”

“Mm,” Vi mumbles, pausing to think. “No, he’s probably one of the new kids, a big group arrived yesterday,” she reasons with a faint shrug. “Guess he missed training, it was supposed to be today,” she adds, bracing her hands on the table as she continues to lean over Amber. “Which is why I called you here, as you know, since the barracks should be empty for most the day.”

“Well,” Amber whispers, shuddering involuntarily as Vi reaches behind her to push anything on the table aside, hearing the large pile of letters that always sat on the knight’s desk fall onto the floor with a clatter. “He was half asleep when I found him, and...if he listened to me and went back to sleep…” she gasps as Vi lifts her a little and puts her on the table. “He’s not going to hear a thing.”

“Arguable, knowing you,” Vi snickers, smirking as Amber rolls her eyes in response. 

“Nobody will believe him even if he does hear,” she responds with a huff, wrapping her arms around Vi’s neck. “Now, shut up and kiss me.”

But Vi doesn’t, smirking playfully “Is that an order, my love?” she coos, and a giggle leaves the knight’s lips as Amber groans.

_“Vi.”_

“It’s a fair question!” Vi argues. “You almost never order me around, you know,” she adds, a sly grin beginning to appear on her lips. “Because I think we _both_ know who _really_ orders who around in this relationship,” she adds with a low purr. Amber’s face darkens, though before she could open her mouth to argue Vi presses her lips roughly against the princess' own, slowly pushing her down flat against the table as she leans further and further down. Amber hears a few more things on the table fall off and onto the ground, when Vi suddenly pulls away sharply, hands planted by Amber’s shoulders as her brows furrow, her head tilting a bit behind her as if someone had knocked on the door.

“Is something wrong?” Amber murmurs, a bit disappointed she’d stopped as she props herself on her elbows, snorting as Vi gently shoves her back down, huffing.

“I thought I heard the door downstairs slam open,” she mutters, rolling her eye. “Guess I’m on edge, but…” she offers Amber a slight grin. “I think we can fix that.”

Amber rolls her eyes as she locks her legs around Vi’s waist. “Just get back down here already.”

It makes Vi laugh, what she says, and the knight moves back down to kiss her again, less hectic this time as her hands cup her cheeks gently, though as Amber wraps her arms around Vi’s neck again moments later, deepening the kiss slowly, there’s a loud bang close by, too close, making Amber jump and Vi practically fly off of her as she whirls around, Amber noticing the knight’s stance immediately moving into a position that she’d be able to cover Amber with, her gaze fixated on the door, which, to Amber’s fright, was open, and she realised what the bang she heard probably was.

Whoever had kicked or shoved the door open was breathing heavily, and though Amber can’t see them due to Vi being positioned in front of her, she notices Vi stiffen, her body going completely rigid.

It’s quiet, too quiet, outside of three people breathing heavily, from fright, shock, or exertion, and Amber slowly lifts herself up until she’s sitting up, peeking over Vi’s shoulder, almost immediately flinching as a pair of sharp green eyes snap from Vi’s face immediately onto her’s. It’s then when she realises Vi had begun to back up a bit that she realises how fast she was breathing, as if the knight was frightened by whoever this was, or at least felt threatened.

The silence continues, nobody daring to speak, until the woman with green eyes finally stands to her full height, pulling down a shroud to reveal a head of hair such a light shade of blonde it almost looked white, her glare piercing as she curls her lip into a scowl.

“Of-fucking-course,” she sneers, shaking her head as she returns her gaze to Vi. “I should’ve fucking known you weren’t dead, Vi, you _cunt._ ”

As Amber looks up at Vi, confused, she watches the knight almost slump against the edge of the table, her arms wobbling a bit.

“Nice to see you too, Rhino,” she mutters, and, though she has no idea who this person is, Amber feels something in her gut plummet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'mmmm back! School sucks, it really makes writing these chapters harder when it especially makes me writer's block even more hellish.
> 
> So, looks like that secret Vi tried to keep about herself is about to get revealed! Trouble in paradise for our two lovebirds, not that they didn't have that already.
> 
> I will make it clear that since I'm not too into writing a long arc where they're both broken up and have to deal with apologising and grieving because of this that that will not happen, in all honesty, considering that would mess with my original plans for the story to be utterly honest. They'll stay together but Vi will be getting yelled at for not being honest about who she was, obviously. 
> 
> Next Chapter: Vi learns that maybe honesty /was/ the best policy after all, some important conversations about /real/ backstories are had, and our new cast member gets her first POV segment! The entire chapter will be Amber-centered with a small Rhino POV in the end, but Vi will be getting her chapters back soon ;) 
> 
> As usual, I accept any questions! Thank you for bearing with me and reading!


	12. XI - The Explanation

“Oh, yeah, alright, “Nice to see you, Rhino,” Oh, _fuck you,_ Vi.”

Amber watches as Vi slowly stands back upright, the knight clearly trying to avoid looking at the green-eyed girl by the door. “Look, this-”

“Isn’t what it looks like?” Rhino snorts dryly. “Yeah, sure, unless you laced your lips with poison I’m pretty sure you sucking on the princess’ face is _exactly_ what it looks like, asshole, and I don’t see her dying, so I think it’s fair to assume I’m right.”

“I can explain-”

“Explain WHAT?!” Rhino snaps, and Amber suddenly notices the large blade sheaths on the woman, Rhino’s, belt as her hand twitches near one, and Amber physically feels herself swallow nervously. “You had a _job_ you were supposed to complete what, two months ago? That was your deadline? Did you get the wrong fucking plan? You were supposed to _kidnap_ the princess, not fucking court her, you _idiot!_ ”

Amber immediately stiffens just as Vi does, her gaze turning to eye the knight. _‘No...no she didn’t- this isn’t...she wouldn’t-’_

“I didn’t _expect_ to get knighted as her guard so fast, I expected to have to sneak in or take out the current knight, but I didn’t have to,” Vi admits with a huff, meeting Rhino’s gaze slowly. “And I didn’t expect to fall in love, either, but I did, and I don’t _regret_ it.”

Amber doesn’t like how Rhino just laughs in response. “That’s cute! That’s really cute, Vi, how you think you have a choice in this matter,” she finishes after catching her breath, her laughter turning into a snide hiss. “You were sent by not only your mother, but the Queen _herself_ to kidnap the princess for bribery, and you didn’t do it, you let your emotions win out,” she rolls her eyes. “And-”

“Hold the _fuck_ on!” Amber suddenly grabs Vi by the arm, forcing her to whirl around. “You were sent by _who?!_ ”

This makes Rhino bark out in laughter again as Vi looks at Amber like a deer caught in the headlights, her mouth opening and closing as she attempted to think of a response.

“Oh, Oh this is _rich,_ ” the blonde snickers cruelly, her gaze moving from both Vi to Amber. “You didn’t tell her?! Jesus, Vi did you _really_ think you’d be able to just hide from this for the rest of your life? Sweetheart,” Rhino turns to look at Amber, and though a sarcastic grin is on her lips her eyes are still icy cold. “Your little trick here? She’s the _daughter_ of Queen Kasdeya, you know, of Agraewyn, the _Rogue Kingdom._ ”

Amber feels her blood turn to ice in mere seconds, her mouth opening and closing as she turns to look at Vi. “She’s lying,” she whispers, shaking her head in disbelief. “You- you can’t be- you’re not-“

Every kingdom knew of Agraewyn. It _used_ to be a normal kingdom like the others, small, but typically peaceful and a good ally to have with their talents for healing. It was when the rulers there were murdered by their own people that it turned sour, a long line of corruption following that eventually, or, well, currently was being led by Queen Kasdeya. Amber only knew of the queen, in all honesty, she had no _idea_ she’d had heirs, considering how hard it was to get info about Agraewyn unless they were raiding your own kingdom.

Hostile and most the time desperate for power, Agraewyn was notorious for raiding other kingdoms either to attempt to take over or for the supplies that kingdom might have. Amber knew their most recent raid was on a small kingdom known for their skill in fighting wars despite their smaller population, Olerin, but she didn’t exactly know what had come of it, most messengers didn’t even try going near the fighting, the risk too great.

To find out the woman she _loved_ and had been happily comfortable being close to and even _intimate_ with had come here with the intention to kidnap her, and, Amber was smart enough to know how this worked, likely kill her in the end made her chest ache, and Vi not responding to her, to her despair, seemed to confirm her worries.

“Please, Vi,” Amber begs, her voice wobbling a little. “Please tell me she’s lying, this is all some big misunderstanding, a cruel joke, _please._ ”

Vi meets Amber’s gaze, her single eye, much to Amber’s horror, displaying only remorse as she takes a short breath.

“I’m sorry,” the knight chokes out, barely able to meet Amber’s gaze by the tell of her shaking hands. “I would’ve told you- I swear, but-”

Rhino opens her mouth to make a comment at that, however, anything she says is drowned out by Amber’s next response, unable to tell if she was angry or destroyed or both.

“I _TRUSTED_ YOU!” she yells, fists clenched. She’s not sure if she’s even controlling herself at this point, she’s just blasting whatever comes to mind before she can think. “I let you sleep in my bed, _next to me!_ Was all we did together just some...elaborate plan to get me to trust you so you could kidnap me someday?! Was _that_ why you asked me if the barracks were empty? Were you going to just fuck me and use my exhaustion after that to knock me out and take me off to Agraewyn for your plans?!”

As soon as she says it, even Amber feels horrible, the hurt immediately appearing in Vi’s expression making her heart break a little as the knight looks like a kicked puppy, backing away a little. And despite that, Amber already feels like that wasn’t fair, there was _so_ much evidence to prove that wasn’t Vi’s intention, she could have done that back a month ago but she didn’t, after all. But the anger and betrayal Amber was feeling made her act irrationally, and her glare didn’t subside.

“I wouldn’t ever do that to you,” Vi finally croaks out. “I wouldn’t just _use_ you like that.”

That makes Amber freeze, her eyes widening a little as she replays what she herself had yelled moments ago, and her throat dries, immediately feeling _horrible_. Accusing someone like Vi of that felt too cruel, even with the information Amber now had on her, and any other word dies on her tongue as she backs up. 

“Vi, I-”

“This is all really fucking sad and all that,” Rhino interrupts, rolling her eyes. “But I was given a task, and that was to either find you, get you out of whatever situation you were stuck in, your mother assumed prison, and return you home so we could figure out a different plan, or to, if you were dead, take over and get the princess myself, and since she’s here and now knows, well,” Rhino pulls a dagger out of one of the sheaths on her belt. “I’m afraid you’re _both_ coming with me now, whether you like it or not,” she narrows her eyes as she turns to look at Amber. “You’ve caused enough trouble, for the both of us,” she hisses, though before she can lift her blade much more there’s a growl as Vi suddenly steps in front of Amber, despite not wearing armour still a stiff stance to her, as if ready to block anything.

“If you so much as _touch_ her with that dagger,” the knight warns, and Amber notices a long dagger in her hand, and she remembers hearing metal hit the floor earlier when they’d been on the table. “I will break every _fucking_ bone in your body.”

The move seems to make Rhino freeze at first, her eyes narrowing before a cold chuckle leaves her lips. “You really are a lost cause, huh, Vi?” she sneers. “If I have to beat you unconscious just to get this done I will, don’t think just because we’re friends that I won’t.”

“Then go ahead and try,” Vi snorts, her body tensing as if preparing for any sort of blow Rhino might throw at her. “Lost cause or not, I’ve had to deal with one blonde trying to make her life hell already, it’s not going to happen again.”

Rhino snorts. “You’re a fucking idiot,” she spits, before darting forward. Before her dagger makes contact with anything, Vi swings her leg out, tripping Rhino over as the, Amber assumes, assassin hits the ground with a grunt. Before she can get up, Vi lunges for her, forcing her down until they’re both wrestling on the ground, Vi to keep Rhino from getting up, and Rhino trying to kick Vi off of her.

“Amber,” Vi growls, trying to keep the taller girl below her down, barely avoiding a vicious slash toward her shoulders. “Get out of here, run to the castle, get in a room, and stay there,” she orders, turning to look at her as she twists Rhino’s wrist so hard the girl drops the blade in her hand. Amber blinks at her, still hurt, her mouth opening and closing, and Vi's eye narrows, a surprisingly cold look appearing on her face.

“I said…” she growls, eye widening as Rhino’s hand closes around her throat suddenly, a wheezed out “GO!” leaving her lips as the blonde manages to overtake her, knocking Vi to the ground.

Amber doesn’t waste another second, bolting out of the room as fast as she could, tearing her way down the stairs as she neared the door, hearing a loud bang as someone, she assumed, whether it be Rhino or Vi, was slammed against the wall or door. She looks toward the tables where she had spotted the other guard earlier, noticing him gone; he’d likely had left to go to training after Amber had woken him.

 _‘That explains how she got in so easily,’_ Amber thinks, shoving the door to the barracks open it and kicking it shut before she sprints into the castle, past the maids, who watched her run past in confusion, and up the stairs until she reaches her chambers, skidding to a halt at her door and practically shoving it open before shutting it with a slam, locking it behind her.

It takes her hardly seconds to run to the door leading to her balcony and lock that as well, along with any window in her room before she shuts the curtains. She then moves to her bed, reaching under the mattress until a familiar metal handle brushes her fingers and she pulls, the ornate dagger and it’s sheath revealing itself as she fastens it to her waist, not even caring to conceal it. She then sits on her bed, wheezing as she attempts to catch her breath, the adrenaline wearing off in her.

If Rhino had tried to follow her, Amber wouldn’t be able to tell. She’d always been a fast runner, and even if the assassin was as well, once Amber had entered the castle she knew Rhino wouldn’t have tried following her, it’d be a death wish. But that wasn’t the focus right now, and as she lays back down on her bed, turns, and shoves her face into a pillow, she focuses on the real issue.

Vi being from Agraewyn was a huge issue in itself, and her being the queen’s daughter only made it worse, not even counting the fact that she’d been originally sent to kidnap Amber and use her as bribery. It just didn’t make _any_ sense, Amber thought, and she presses her face deeper into the pillow, and once she realises that the pillow smells like Vi she finds tears beginning to spill down her face, her body shaking.

They’d known each other for practically four months now, been together for one, and Amber couldn’t fathom why Vi wouldn’t have simply _told_ her her origins eventually, if anything. She might have at least been able to take it better if it hadn’t been suddenly dropped on her like this.

 _‘But why would she?’_ A voice says in her head, with a sneer. _‘You still would have been scared of her, wouldn’t you? Or would you have trusted her like you do with everyone else? You’ve always been too trusting, after all.’_

Amber runs her fingers through her hair as she bites back any more sobs. “None of this makes any sense,” she whispers, her voice wavering. “Rhino said her deadline was two months ago, she was supposed to have done it _months_ ago,” she reasons. “Why would she have waited an extra two months?”

She groans, shaking her head even more. There was a pain in her chest, her heart felt like it was tearing itself to shreds. She didn’t understand, her mind was too boggled from shock and from the sudden bout of information she was being forced to digest to know a definite answer, except for one, and she sits up, immediately getting to her feet to head to her closet.

“I need to speak to Skylar and Meredith,” she decides, yanking out her cloak as soon as she grabs it. “The walk will help clear my head, too, and I know they can help, and…” she sighs. “They need to know before one of them finds out...some other way,” she adds with a short huff, already turning toward the door.

 _‘But how are you going to get out without Vi’s help?’_ the voice in her head, her own, asks.

A dry snort leaves Amber’s lips. “Please,” she mutters, opening the door and shutting it with a slam as she begins to head down the hall. “I think we both know what we do when we don’t want anyone knowing we’re gone, hm?” she adds, heading directly toward the garden.

 _‘Okay, and I’m also not going to start talking to myself, too,’_ she adds after speaking. _‘I’m not going to be heartbroken and partially insane at the same fucking time.’_

\-----------------------------------

The guard Vi had stationed at the hole in the garden wall before wasn’t there when Amber had arrived at the place, making her easily able to leave the garden, entering the steep hill that led down into the town. She had been so deep into her head as she had headed down the hill she’d nearly tumbled over a couple of times, and as she stepped down at the base of the hill in absolute relief, taking a deep breath before entering the city. 

It was as crowded as it normally was, though Amber knew how to move around the town quickly, the hood of her cloak covering most of her face as she held it there. She pushed any thoughts of Vi away as she focused on getting to the tavern as quickly as she could, nearly shoving people as she grew closer due to how tight the crowds were getting, which in turn had nearly caused her to lose her grip on the hood of her cloak.

Upon reaching the tavern, to her relief, she spots Meredith outside, leaning against the wall as she flips a coin in her hand up in the air, clearly bored. Anytime someone passed by she’d say something and then point back at the tavern entrance, making Amber assume Skylar was forcing her to work, likely to advertise the tavern to passerby. Upon getting close to the raven-haired girl, she doesn’t even look up, sighing.

“If drinking your sorrows away like some idiot instead of facing your problems like a man is your thing, feel free to come to the Honeyside Tav-” her gaze darts up for a moment, as if to catch a glance at the person before her, and any other words die on her tongue as she gasps a little. “Amber?!”

Amber doesn’t even realise she’s lunged forward to hug the taller girl before she does, her hood flying backward as she buries her face into the thief’s dark brown leather armour, though before anyone can look over she feels Meredith’s hand fist itself around the hood and yank it back up over the princess’ head, her other arm tightly securing itself around her waist.

“What’s wrong?” the thief murmurs, pressing her head close to Amber’s head while her eyes dart about as if daring anyone to come close. “Where’s Vi?”

The mention of Vi’s name makes every thought Amber had tried to push away during the trek down the hill rush back forward and Amber groans loudly, shaking her head as she clutches onto Meredith tighter, making the thief stiffen, her eyes narrowing.

“Do you want me to go get Sky? I can talk to you in my room in the tavern,” the thief offers, and when Amber nods she also nods, moving back. “Come on, then, let’s get you inside.”

Amber allows Meredith to take her hand and lead her inside the tavern, ignoring the bustling tables as she spots Skylar taking one’s order. Meredith struts over with purpose, not even caring that the girl was halfway through the order when she reaches over and yanks sharply on her arm.

“Okay, and that’ll be an _ale,_ not a mead, ri- Ow! Mer, what the hell?! I’m busy!”

“Yeah, well, Amber’s here, and she needs to talk, so give your apron to someone else on the job, we need to talk. Now.”

“Hey-” One of the customers tries to interrupt Meredith, but the thief ignores him.

“Amber’s with you- Oh!” Skylar’s eyes widen as she spots the princess, who had one of Meredith’s arms draped over her shoulders as she gripped onto the thief’s waist. “What happened?! She looks _miserable,_ Mer, take her to your room and I’ll-”

“Wait a damn second, is that the _princess?_ ”

-be there in a second!”

“Good, bring some mead and maybe some wine with you, she needs something to eat too- if you interrupt me ONE more time I will cut off your tongue so you won’t _have_ an order to make!” she suddenly snaps, slamming her fist on the wooden table as Meredith glares daggers into the man that had been commenting this entire time. “You hear me?!”

The man, eyes wide, gulps before nodding, and Meredith moves back, sneering before she turns back to Skylar, who all but nods at her.

“I’ll be there once I finish up this order, go,” she mutters, flashing a worried look toward Amber before she focuses back on the table. Amber feels Meredith snicker as the man she had snapped at timidly glanced back at Meredith occasionally as he ordered before the thief leads her toward the counter, lifting the bar separating the bar from the main dining area before she enters, passing the kitchen. There, she smiles at Skylar’s mom and waves before moving further until she opens a door at the end of the hall, pushing herself and Amber inside.

Skylar’s mother’s tavern was large for a reason, as it doubled as their home, too, and Meredith’s room, which she frequented from time-to-time, was the smallest room, a supply room of sorts. There were sacks of flour and likely other food items as well as barrels of alcohol stored there, and there was a small bed in the back with a crate acting as a nightstand next to it. Meredith sets Amber down on the bed before grabbing one of the crates nearby and dragging it over for her to sit on, crossing a leg over her other one as she regards Amber.

Amber sits in silence, occasionally letting tears slide down her face as she finally allows herself to truly dwell in her thoughts, sniffling slightly as they wait for Skylar. It doesn’t take long for her to arrive, though, a jug, three glasses, and a platter of cheese and fruit in her hands as she walks over. Meredith gets up to help her pull two more crates over, one for Skylar to sit on and one for the jug and glasses to sit on. She sets the platter next to Amber before taking a seat.

“That’s water, by the way,” Skylar comments as Meredith eagerly reaches toward the jug, the thief scowling and looking over at her reproachfully. “Amber doesn’t need alcohol right now, you might use alcohol as a way to calm yourself down, Mer, but Amber needs to be able to coherently tell us what happened.”

Even Meredith seems to understand, huffing before nodding. “You’re not wrong,” she agrees after a moment, before glancing toward Amber, frowning thoughtfully. “But regardless, what’s going on, Amb? Vi not being here especially worries me, not even mentioning your reaction to me mentioning her earlier.”

“Yeah, I noticed she wasn’t with you two,” Skylar nods, brows furrowing. “Did...something happen between you two? An argument, maybe?”

Amber shakes her head, taking a shaky breath as she forces herself to take a few grapes that were on the platter before eating them, pouring herself a glass of water as she chewed. She takes a sip before responding, explaining in detail what had happened only a while ago, from what had been said to what had happened after. During her explanation, Meredith’s fist had slowly begun to clench, the other, which had been holding a glass of water, shaking so hard Skylar had to take it away so she wouldn’t drop it, though she didn’t look any better, a deep frown written on her lips as her brows furrowed, seemingly in thought.

When Amber finished, Meredith punches the crate she was sitting on, pulling her hand away to shake the pain that likely came of it off. 

“I’m going to _kill_ her,” she growls lowly, steely-blue eyes meeting Amber’s own. “If I ever see her fucking face again I’m going to rip that other eye out and make her-”

“Meredith.”

“No, Skylar, we aren’t “Meredith”ing me now!” Meredith exclaims, turning to look over at the woman next to her with a fiery look in her eyes. “I fought _alongside_ her when she could have easily turned and stabbed me in the back! I trusted her too! God, I-” Meredith shakes her head angrily, running a hand through her messy hair. “I gave her advice regarding you!” she looks up at Amber. “I told her _everything!_ ”

Skylar shakes her head. “This doesn’t make any sense,” she mutters, putting a hand to her chin as her brows only seem to furrow more. “None of this…”

“Please, what makes sense is that we trusted a _lying_ whore who probably only wanted to even get with Amber just so she could have the ability to say she slept with the princess before slitting her fucking throat,” Meredith snorts dryly. “I should have fucking known.”

“Please don’t-” Amber finally stammers out, before Meredith interrupts.

“Don’t what? Call her a whore? I’m sorry, I’m slut-shaming, let me call her a cunt, then,” Meredith rolls her eyes, her tone dripping sarcasm. “Calling her a whore would just be an insult to myself.”

Internally, Amber wonders just how many times people were going to call Vi a cunt today, and she almost smiles a bit when she realises she knew just how Vi would likely respond to it, though the beginnings of a smile on her face die as she returns to reality, and she almost curses herself for allowing her mind to wander, returning back to listening to Skylar and Meredith argue over this.

“No, you dolt,” Skylar rolls her eyes. “Insult Vi as much as you want later, it’s my turn to talk,” she adds with a serious look in her hazel eyes as she shoots Meredith a look, making the thief shut her already opening mouth. “Amber, you said Vi’s deadline was two months ago, right? To kidnap you, I mean.”

Amber nods, watching Meredith grumble something under her breath, likely nothing good as she returns her gaze to Skylar’s face. 

“Then none of this makes any sense, as I said prior,” Skylar shakes her head, a few strands of dark curly hair drifting in front of her as she does. She blows them away in an attempt to get them off before sighing and just moving the curls behind her ear. “Why would she still be here, then? Amber’s mentioned how many times she’s taken Vi to places where they were _alone,_ remember? The little spot in the woods? Why didn’t she just grab you there and run? Back then, she would’ve gotten maybe all the way back to Agraewyn before anyone noticed.”

“Maybe she was just trying to get Amber’s trust so she could do it just to hurt her more, like any snake wo-”

“I wasn’t _finished,_ Meredith,” Skylar butts in with a sharp glare that makes Meredith’s lips flatten into a fine line as she nods, looking away immediately. It almost makes Amber giggle. “Another thing, why the everloving _hell_ would Vi have risked her ass to go out with you, Meredith, to kill a random royal she wasn’t told to kill? For all Vi knew, she could die, when her real goal wouldn’t have involved killing anyone, and,” she says, as Meredith’s eyes widen and she turns to look at Skylar. “Why did she come in and _help_ you when you were being overtaken by that guard? Any normal person tasked with kidnapping wouldn’t give a fuck about the friends of their target, if anything, she’d have let you die before killing the guard so she could have fewer people on her ass.”

“You’re right, Vi did come in and help with that, the man would have likely killed me if she hadn’t come in,” Meredith admits, brows furrowing. 

“Wait a second,” Amber realises, looking up. “Why the hell would Vi have helped me at all during the dinner party when she literally got _lashed_ for it?!” she questions, swallowing the bite of cheese she had been eating. “She had the option to stay silent and she didn’t, she not only defended me but insulted Drake on her own accord!”

“Exactly,” Skylar nods. “And if she had the intention of kidnapping you, getting lashed like that would have made her want to do it as soon as she healed up,” she points out. “Not risk getting anymore injured, so she likely would have grabbed you and run either the night after we met her or-”

“In the woods on the night of the party!” Meredith suddenly yells out, turning to look at Amber. “Exactly like you suggested when you mentioned what you said when you yelled at her, Amb, she would have _easily_ been able to take you and run with you being exhausted.”

“And, even then, she’d have been a month late and would have had plenty of opportunities to kidnap you beforehand,” Skylar points out. “So, hear me out, perhaps Vi _wasn’t_ lying when she said she wouldn’t ever use you like that, and when she said she fell in love with you, perhaps her falling in love made her realise she couldn’t follow through with the plan?”

Meredith runs another hand through her hair. “It’s not impossible,” she admits, nodding. “With how capable Vi is as well, and with how silver-tongued she likely is, or, well,” she chuckles, “how I _assume_ she is, most sly people have that trait, if she really wanted to kidnap you, you’d be long gone by now.”

“I think it’s fair to assume Amber would be dead by now, actually,” Skylar points out. “But Vi also _threw_ herself in front of a literal assassin without armour on so you could escape when, honestly, Amber?” Skylar manages a laugh at this. “If she didn’t love you, she would have just turned on you when Rhino came in. You never would have made it over here.”

“That’s another thing,” Meredith says, as Amber seems to feel the same thing, her heart plummeting. “Not to make you feel worse, Amb, but Vi fighting someone who’s fully armed and is wearing armour over her being armed with only a dagger and her leisurewear...I know she’s capable, but-”

“Oh my God,” Amber whispers, immediately beginning to feel her heart race with panic as she clutches the side of her head. “Oh my God she could be dead, she could be laying on the floor bleeding out right now and I didn’t go to anyone-”

“Or she could be fine!” Skylar interrupts, glaring over at Meredith. “You’re not going to find out until she comes to you or until you go find her, for all we know she might be looking for you right now.”

“Uh,” Meredith raises a brow. “I’d think it’s fair to say she shouldn’t go looking for Vi right now, with an _assassin_ moving about,” she points out. “In fact, Amber, I hate to say it, but you shouldn’t even be here.”

Amber’s hands shake, though as she opens her mouth to argue, Skylar butts in again. “Actually,” she points out. “Nobody can kidnap Amber here, in a tavern full of people, it’d be a death sentence if she tried, which means Amber might be safest here, not in a castle with people who have no idea there’s an assassin looking for her, and Amber can’t exactly tell her parents, considering Vi’s head would be in the gallows upon the sun’s set.”

“You’re not suggesting we keep her here,” Meredith laughs, shaking her head. “We’d have the entire kingdom in a panic if they find out she’s gone!”

“The maids can’t enter my room without my command,” Amber points out. “And my parents never visit me unless my mother needs to tell me something, half the time they don’t even expect me to sit with them for dinner anymore.”

“Exactly, so I think Amber staying her the night, leaving tomorrow morning, and going to look for Vi _then_ would be our safest option, with Rhino being Vi’s friend there’s a strong chance she wouldn’t have killed her, just injured her, and either left or forced her to come with her, and if that’s the case, that’s when you go to your mother and tell her what happened, okay Amber?”

“Yeah, Lorelei will be willing to listen and possibly not execute Vi over Joseph, after all,” Meredith agrees. “You can sleep here tonight, the bed is big enough for us both...uh, I think?”

Skylar rolls her eyes. “If it’s not big enough one of you can come down the hall and share my bed,” she offers, slowly getting to her feet. “I’m going to let my mother know you’re here for the night, and no,” she says as Amber gives her a worried look. “I won’t tell her the truth, I’ll just say you’re spending the night to hang out with Meredith or something, considering I, unfortunately, have to work.”

Meredith snorts at that. “Please,” she smirks over at Skylar. “As if your mother won’t give you time off to hang out with us, she loves Amber.”

Skylar smiles as she stops at the door frame, turning to look over at Meredith first, then Amber. “Does anyone not?” she replies, before leaving the room with a wave of her hand.

Meredith rolls her eyes at that comment. “Clearly the people in Agraewyn don’t, their loss, though,” she laughs loudly at that, and it makes Amber giggle, finally, after an hour now or more of being panicked or worried or devastated. 

“Well,” Meredith adds as soon as she’s done busting a lung from her laughter. “That’s also wrong, one citizen from Agraewyn clearly loves you, though next time I see her I’m going to give her a bit of a piece of my mind on lying to my best friend about her being a secret potential assassin.”

Amber sighs, her smile still staying on her face. “I’m honestly just relieved that me thinking she was going to hurt me was false,” she shakes her head. “Though I think...I always knew. She talked in a way so genuine to me, did so many things for me, I really think I would’ve come to the same conclusion we did regardless.”

“True,” Meredith nods, taking a long sip of water, glaring at it for a moment. “God, I wish this was wine,” she mutters, partially to herself. “But you still need to talk to her about her lying to you about her past. I know it would have been a risk to do it but…” she gives Amber a pointed look. “I think we both know if she had just sat you down and explained it you would have understood and accepted her regardless.”

Amber nods. “And I will, but…” she sighs, smiling sheepishly. “Call me stupid, but I don’t think I’m breaking my relationship with her off.”

“I wouldn’t call that stupid,” Meredith shrugs. “You’re forgiving her, just make it clear that if she ever lies to you like that again that you _should_ break up with her. She’s lucky, not all people would be so willing to forgive something like that.”

“Mhm,” Amber nods, flopping backwards onto the bed as she looks up at the ceiling. “Jesus, this day has been a fucking mess,” she rolls her eyes. “And I know I’m going to have to worry about assassins from Agraewyn now in the future, too, which makes it suck even harder.”

“I mean,” Meredith stands, sitting down on the bed beside Amber. “Vi clearly won’t let them touch you, and you know I won’t, either,” she comments. “If anything, there might be a war with Agraewyn, soon, when that assassin gets back to Queen Kasdeya and tells her what Vi’s been doing.”

“Ooo, fun,” Amber drawls sarcastically, her tone filled with mock amusement. “Another war because I’ll be accused of corrupting the queen’s daughter,” she snorts after that comment. “You know, when the basis of their entire kingdom is built on corruption.”

“Let’s _not_ bring that up if you ever have to meet Vi’s mother,” Meredith laughs. “She already doesn’t like you enough.”

“True,” Amber sighs. “But regardless, I hope Vi is okay, I know she knows where the castle doctors are but I can’t help but worry.”

“Vi took down three men in less than ten minutes a week ago, I think she can handle this,” Meredith points out. “But besides, that, come on, Amb, we haven’t slept over in ages, can we maybe not focus on your girlfriend’s possible demise tonight?”

Amber groans. “Not funny.”

“Yeah, that was in bad taste, I admit, but I mean it,” Meredith turns, facing Amber. “Last time you and I had a sleepover was when you were fifteen and I was sixteen, we should at least have some fun, now that we’re adults with responsibilities and all that shit.”

“Ah, yes, responsibilities,” Amber snickers. “Like, for you, stealing things from the rich and keeping it for yourself, and me, who spends her days romping around the castle with a knight that has a flirtatious personality that would rival a succubi’s.”

“Hm, you know, they do say that Agraewyn’s people are demons sometimes as insults, maybe-”

“Please, God, I do not need another new thing about my girlfriend dropped on me,” Amber sighs. “Not that I would push her away for being one, but-”

“It also wouldn’t make sense, demons heal fast, Vi took a week to heal those whip wounds, which is a shame, really, but you’d have to deal with the whole immortality thing, I suppose, so maybe it isn’t.”

“Yeah, I’d call Vi not being immortal a bit of a blessing,” Amber laughs, gazing at Meredith as the thief slowly lays down next to her. “But hey, look, we both fit,” she adds with a teasing glint to her blue eyes.

“Huh, guess we do!” Meredith smiles. “Forgive me for worrying, the only bed I’ve slept in for our sleepovers was yours.”

“God,” Amber sighs, running a hand through her hair. “Remember the last time we slept over? You snuck in through my window and slept over for the night and-”

“That fucking maid came in to wake you up, spotted me in bed with you, and literally screamed bloody murder as if I had been holding a knife to your throat!” Meredith remembers, laughing hard. “I think Joseph thought I had fucking stolen your virginity or something, considering he tried to get me in the gallows before your mother called him out for being ridiculous.”

“And _that’s_ the reason I have maids not come into my room without my order,” Amber giggles. “Because of my stepfather attempting to cut off a sixteen-year-old idiot’s head for having a sleepover with her friend, I can’t _believe_ he thought we had slept together.”

“I mean, in his defence, I am a hot piece of-”

“This is why he tried to have you executed.”

“Fair.”

\----------------------------------------

Amber’s woken up the next morning by Meredith, who leads her to the tavern’s bar so they could eat breakfast before it opened up. She’s able to have a long conversation with both Skylar and her mother because of it, something she was happy about, considering how long it had been since they’d done it last.

“I hope they’re not forcing you into anything too large yet, sweetheart,” Roxanne, Skylar’s mother, had begun. “I know you’re next in line, but you’re just so young, and-”

“Mom,” Skylar sighs next to Amber. “She’s _nineteen._ ”

“Nineteen is still young to be leading the entirety of Aetheria, Skylar!”

“I know, mother,” Skylar rolls her eyes a little as she chuckles. “But she’s not a baby anymore, is my point.”

“Ah, I remember when you all were little,” Roxanne sighs wistfully. “Playing in the town, or, when we didn’t want people staring at Amber,” she chuckles. “In the tavern or, when Her Highness allowed it, the gardens of the castle.”

Amber smiles at that. “I doubt my mother would mind you all visiting more, you know,” she comments. “Skylar did it last week.”

“Ah, yeah, well, unfortunately, I just always forget to set time to _do_ that anymore with how busy I am,” the older woman responds with a sad smile. “It’s a shame, too, I always did enjoy my conversations with your mother, you got her kindness as you grew, I noticed.”

“And her penchant for trouble came from someone else _entirely,_ ” Skylar comments under her breath, glancing over toward Meredith, who was currently attempting to steal a piece of sausage off of Amber’s plate while she wasn’t looking.

After they ate, Meredith and Amber left the tavern after bidding Skylar and her mother farewell, the thief escorting Amber back to the castle as market vendors began to prepare their stands for the day. Meredith leads her to the hole in the garden wall after the steep climb up the hill, breathless. 

“Remind,” Meredith starts after wheezing for a long bit. “Remind Vi to meet me at the tavern in a couple of days, the new moon is in a week and I need to get some last minute information on some things before, you know,” she offers Amber a tired grin. “I steal that book from right under the king’s nose.”

“Wait, a week?!” Amber gasps, eyes flying open. “I didn’t expect it to be that soon!”

“A new moon will make it harder for guards to see me sneaking about outside and in less lit corridors when I do this, Meredith explains with a shrug. “And I’m ready, so why not? I just need some final things set and I’ll be ready to go, which will be settled when Vi and I meet.”

“Right,” Amber nods. “I’ll let her know,” she adds, before turning to face Meredith, having turned to look at the wall prior. She suddenly lunges forward and pulls the taller girl into a hug, burying her face into the thief’s chest. “Thank you, for yesterday, I mean, tell Skylar and her mother that too.”

A chuckle leaves Meredith’s lips as she nods, pressing a kiss to Amber’s head. “Of course, Amb, I’ll let ‘em know.”

Amber nods, and she watches Meredith begin to head down the hill. The thief stumbles for a moment, making Amber gasp softly, though she steadies herself and looks back at Amber, grinning her trademark grin as she flashes the princess a thumbs-up to reassure her before she continues down the hill. Amber rolls her eyes with a sigh, before turning and slipping through the hole and back into the castle.

She heads to her room first, wanting to see if Vi had come looking for her. When she enters, she doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary, frowning almost, when she doesn’t spot a thing that could mean Vi had been here.

Vi might have been here, but she hadn’t touched a thing, and she sighs softly, instead going to the balcony. She stands outside, letting the air hit her skin and the wind blow her hair back slightly as she looks around. She sees the gardens below, spots her mother entering them with a maid following, and she turns, sighing as she wishes she could spot the barracks from here. It was on the other side of the castle, closer to the town so the guards could get to the city if it was in danger. 

“I suppose Vi would be around the barracks, now,” she murmurs to herself, furrowing her brows in thought. “Training usually ends at noon...it was eleven-forty when I got back and it’s been around five minutes since I’ve entered my room...if I walk there I should be there around noon, if not a bit early,” she nods to herself, before leaving the room, heading down the hall at a brisk walk.

She reaches the barracks a few minutes before noon, having spotted the knights outside in the field nearby training. She heads upstairs, finding Vi’s door unlocked, and she enters the knight’s room carefully. 

There are no large stains of blood on the floor, in fact, the room looks quite clean, everything cleaned up. The letters on Vi’s desk before are gone, though Amber notices empty envelopes and torn up shreds of parchment in the wastebasket Vi kept by her bed moments later.

 _‘She must be alive, then.’_ Amber realises with a slight grin. She also notices, with a pang, crumpled pieces of parchment on the floor next to the wastebasket, a broken quill on the desk. She leans down to pick up one, finding discarded letters, all of them addressed to Amber.

_‘My love- no, you can’t call her that, what if someone intercepts this….’_

_‘Amber, I’m not sure how to apologise to you without telling you better in person but you’re not in your room- God, Vi just wait, a letter won’t explain shit you can explain better in person._

_But what if she isn’t willing to listen? I guess...she doesn’t have to, I should have told the truth.’_

Amber sets down the letters, sighing as she realises her eyes had grown watery, and she wipes them gingerly. _‘And I should have been more rational and thought before screaming at you.’_

She starts as she hears the door begin to open, having been too focused in looking at the unfinished letters to have heard the knights enter the barracks after training, and she whirls around, eyes locking onto a sweaty, bedraggled Vi, who was trudging inside, her helmet held in her left hand. Even the knight’s hair was partially soaked, and she takes a few more steps inside, shutting the door behind her, before she looks up, eye spotting Amber. She blinks, though doesn’t seem to recognise her until a moment, when her eye widens in shock and she drops her helmet to the floor with a loud clatter.

“Amber-” Vi gapes, though before she can do anything else Amber rushes over without thinking, lunging at the last step, her face pressing into the light chain-mail armour Vi was wearing as her arms immediately wrap around her waist. She couldn’t help it, she had intended on waiting for any physical contact between the knight and her to happen after Vi explained herself, though with Amber spending most the afternoon, evening, and morning wondering if Vi was even _alive,_ she couldn’t not, and she doesn’t realise she’s sobbing until Vi hugs her back, the knight pressing her face into Amber’s hair, her strong arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

It’s when Vi’s body starts racking with sobs that Amber looks up. Vi rarely cried, hell Amber wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen her _sob_ like this before, the normally tough knight mostly just displaying deep frowns or sorrowful looks if she was distressed. 

“I thought you were _dead_ or...worse,” the knight admits, sniffling heavily. “I came to your room in the afternoon, and when you weren’t there I assumed you were with your mother, and then your mother asked me where you were later that evening and I ran back to your room, found you gone, and thought- I thought Rhino somehow managed to kill you or grab you after she bolted.”

Amber’s lips part as her eyes widen. “I thought you were dead too,” she whispers, voice fragmented. “I ran, and then realised that you could have died, and I-” she wheezes suddenly, breathing heavily from the bout of tears. “I went to Meredith and Skylar, I didn’t know who else to go talk to- I needed _someone._ ”

“I’m just glad you’re alright,” Vi mutters between deep breaths. “I’m so sorry, Amber, I wish I had told you-”

“Don’t,” Amber shakes her head. “It’s okay,” she adds in a whisper. “I know why you felt like you couldn’t tell me,” she adds. “Just…don’t _ever_ keep something like this from me again, okay?”

“I promise,” Vi nods, pressing a kiss to Amber’s forehead, clearly not sure if she was even _allowed_ to kiss Amber on the lips anymore. Amber curses herself in her head, she was going to wait for Vi’s explanation before kissing her again, though she can’t help it, she _loves_ Vi too much to not, and she leans up, tugging the collar of Vi’s armour down so Vi leans down as she gently presses her lips against the knight’s, softly gasping as she feels Vi’s hands reach up and cup her face to pull her closer, her own arms wrapping around the knight’s neck as she leans into her form, standing on her tiptoes.

Upon pulling back, Amber presses her hand against Vi’s chest. “Now,” she whispers, giving her the most serious look she could muster right now. It probably is pretty serious, though, as Vi blinks, smiling nervously. “You’re going to give me that explanation you promised me in your letters.”

“Ah,” Vi chokes out, her grin growing sheepish. “So you read those.”

“I did.”

“I hope you can tell,” Vi begins, as Amber’s sharp blue gaze bores into her. “That I am not the best writer.”

“I could tell.”

Vi frowns. “You’re not supposed to agree with that.”

“Shame.”

Rolling her eye, Vi sighs. “Right, right, come on,” she mutters, leading Amber over to the bed, where the knight sits. “This is going to take a while, princess, take a seat, get comfortable.

When Amber sits down beside Vi, she has the largest urge to move over like she usually does so she could settle her head in Vi’s lap, as when she did that the knight would comb her fingers through her hair or play with it. She refrains from it for now, though, instead scooting over to the pillows on Vi’s bed (There were four, formerly two, before Amber noticed how few there were and ordered two more to be placed in Vi’s room despite her insistence that she didn’t need them.). She settles against them and turns to look at Vi as the knight turns to face her, sighing.

“So, to start, I was born in Agraewyn, as you now know,” Vi begins. “The city of Agraewyn that houses the kingdom, Ibauric, named after the first king who...overthrew the old one, was the one I was raised in, not some village,” she adds with a huff. “Everything that happened to me regarding my eye was absolutely true, though, I was kidnapped, the stuff in that house happened, and I killed the man myself before I called out the woman by recognising her in the market, and my mother, Queen Kasdeya, executed her, quite satisfying, if I can tell you anything, she had her organs-” she pauses, sighing. “Not the point. Anyways, as soon as I was old enough I, along with Rhino, my best friend at the time, and, as you know, the girl who burst in my room, both trained to become knights, considering my brother, Max, was older than me and would be heir to our throne, not me, unless he died, which he did not, thank God. As we advanced further into our training, Rhino and I- actually I’m going to skip that part- the point is we were chosen to train as assassins to do work in, as you know, killing royals or kidnapping them for my mother. We trained, as you expect, and one day my mother called me in, giving me a specific task, which, as you can expect, was-”

“To kidnap the Princess of Aetheria for bribery,” Amber interrupts as a guess, to which Vi nods.

“Now, keep in mind, since we were kids my mother and her advisors that at first helped watch Max and I raised us on the belief that Aetheria was full of horrible people, most of Agraewyn is raised to believe any kingdom that _isn’t_ Agraewyn is bad,” Vi points out. “So I didn’t think much of this, I took the next carriage to Aetheria, enlisted as a guard, and rose in the ranks quickly due to my experience. I honestly didn’t expect your guard to retire, and I was even more shocked when the commander of the guard picked _me_ as a recommendation, but I took it,” Vi sighs, shaking her head. “And then...I met you.”

“Why do I have the feeling this story is about to get _really_ sappy,” Amber remarks dryly, though a warm smile is on her lips as she regards Vi.

“Because it is, now strap yourself in,” Vi snorts in response. “I honestly...knew by your appearance that this job wasn’t going to be easy, but at first, I didn’t think I’d have much trouble going by how you acted,” she starts. “But...that first time I found you in the clearing in the woods, the interaction we had,” she sighs, shaking her head. “I left the woods realising I could have taken you at any point during our talk, but I hadn’t, and I just...realised I might not like this plan anymore, that I might not be able to do it, and it got even _worse_ as I continued to fall in love with you. I couldn’t hurt you, I knew that, so I began to avoid letters sent to me by my mother or Max and ignored the deadline so I could spend more time with you. Like,” Vi laughs, softly, shortly, but she laughs, and it makes Amber smile regardless. “You might tease me for it, but I fell _hard_ for you, Amber, really hard, which is why...when Rhino barged in and you said what you said, that’s why it hurt so badly, but…” Vi sighs, flashing Amber a sad smile, one that makes the princess’ heart hurt. “With how much about myself I lied or didn’t tell you about, I can understand why you might have thought that.”

Amber frowns deeply, despite Vi’s understanding what she had yelled still made Amber feel horrible. It’d been irrational, she hadn’t even thought, just let her anger take over, and she grabs the knight’s hand, taking a long, wavering breath.

“I’m sorry,” she starts, making sure Vi was looking at her as she spoke. The knight furrows her brows, looking like she might argue when Amber shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have screamed at you like that, regardless of what you think, I should have thought more rationally, but…” she sighs. “It was kind of hard to do that when I was getting all of this information at once so fast, but what I said was...cruel, and I apologise for it.”

“I won’t lie to you and say it didn’t hurt,” Vi murmurs after a while. “It was cruel, but...with what I kept from you, it was a fair assumption, I’m sure Meredith had much more colourful words for me, honestly,” she lets out an almost bitter laugh at that, but Amber’s giggles soften it as the princess remembers how angry the thief had gotten. “But I should have been honest with you from the start, knowing you, if I had just told you before we’d gotten together, you would have the willingness to listen to me and let me explain myself.”

“Yeah,” Amber shakes her head with a soft smile. “We both fucked up, just-”

“Me more than you, arguably,” Vi butts in, making Amber sigh.

“Not my point, we both fucked up, but we are _discussing_ it and are both realising were we both went wrong instead of just...pretending it didn’t happen,” she explains, making Vi blink, but nod in understanding.

“I’m...honestly just glad we’re both okay,” the knight adds after a while. “I went to training really to...distract myself from the idea of you being hurt or something like that, otherwise I probably would have skipped it and just slept all day, with how bruised I am I probably should have, to be honest.”

“That reminds me,” Amber comments, flitting a worried glance at Vi’s body. “What happened to Rhino?”

Vi sighs bitterly, looking toward the wall for a moment as if in thought. “She gave up a minute or two after you left, shoved me away, and stomped off after cursing me out so many times I don’t think I could give you a proper number. I don’t know where she is now, probably out in the woods skulking about or on her way home to tell my mother what she found.”

Amber sighs. “I suppose we’ll be hearing about that soon, then,” she mutters, before reaching up to cup Vi’s cheek. “How hurt are you?”

“Bruised, but I’ll live, nothing broken,” the knight answers. “My ribs hurt from a few blows there, but I checked and there wasn’t a sign of any breaks, and my throat has some bruises on it from being grabbed, but outside of that all that’s there is a bunch of random patches of bruised skin on my legs and arms.”

“Nothing a little rest won’t fix, then,” Amber decides with a nod. “Or,” she smiles when seeing Vi give her a pout. “Maybe walking around will be okay too.”

This makes Vi beam, and she leans over as if to kiss Amber in thanks, though she pauses before she gets too close, as if unsure if she was allowed still.

“I forgot to ask if we- if we’re still a thing,” Vi murmurs, looking surprisingly bashful. “I understand if you-”

“I’ve kissed you already today, get back in here, you know the answer,” Amber snickers, leaning up to meet Vi, kissing her slowly. Vi grins into the kiss and deepens it only slightly before pulling back. 

“I love you, Amber,” the knight whispers, gazing down into Amber’s eyes with one of the most loving looks she’d ever seen on her face. Amber can’t help but reciprocate the expression, pressing her forehead against Vi’s. “Thank you for listening.”

“I love you too, Vi,” the princess responds, chuckling softly as she feels their hands intertwine. “Thank you for telling me.”

\------------------------------------

When the sun’s all but a slit in sky, the moon’s shine taking over for it as it goes to rest for the night, the doors to the tavern open, and a woman with padded leather armour and a hood stalks her way into the building, ignoring the loud conversations or arguments being held at the full tables, one particularly loud group playing some sort of card game involving money, she wagered, narrowly dodging one of the cards as it flew through the air after one angry player threw his set in rage. 

She nearly turns to glare at the man but decides against it, not in the mood to start a fight and get kicked out of the tavern she had just entered, she at least wanted something to drink before starting anything of that sort. So, she moved onward, crossing the dining area to sit at the bar, surprisingly empty tonight, though she wasn’t going to complain about that, not at all.

A young woman, maybe about her age, with dark brown skin and shoulder-length curly dark hair, either black or so dark brown it was black, she couldn’t tell in the lantern light offered, notices her first and steps over, her hazel eyes friendly as she regards the newcomer.

“Good evening!” she greets, nodding toward her. “Can I help you?”

The woman nods, keeping her hood on. “Yeah, get me something like…” she ponders for a moment. “Rum.”

“Got it,” the barkeep nods, turning to go rustle through the bottles of alcohol on the shelves behind her. While she’s doing that, the woman hears the door open and slam, hearing a few men let out loud noises that vaguely sounded like greetings. She doesn’t particularly care much about that, though, nodding in thanks when she’s handed her glass of rum, until the person, she assumes the newcomer, plops themselves down on the barstool next to her. Then she cares a bit.

She glances over, her eyes scanning the newcomer. She’s around her height, maybe a tiny bit taller, though considering they’re sitting on stools she can’t tell for sure. Her hair is extremely short and jet black in colour, messy too, as if all she did to tend to it was run her fingers through it occasionally. The side view of her face reveals a few scars, marking this woman, in the other woman’s eyes, as a fighter of sorts. She didn’t look like a noble, wearing dark brown leather armour, though the shiny gemstone rings on the fingers she was drumming on the bar countered that.

 _‘A thief, I assume, maybe? Or perhaps a noble who’s just really bad at hiding their wealth,’_ she assumes, though she jumps a little as the woman begins to speak.

“You know, staring is considered rude to some,” she starts, smirking slightly as she turns to look over at her, grey-blue eyes meeting her own. “Lucky for you, I consider it pretty flattering.”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Good for you,” she grunts, taking a sip of her rum.

The woman doesn’t speak again until she gets her order, a whisky, and the barkeep eyes her before sighing.

“Let me guess, I’m gonna have to put this on your tab again?” the woman asks, rolling her eyes as the black-haired woman laughs and nods. 

“It’s cute how you expect any other answer, Sky,” she responds with a wink.

The barkeep, “Sky”, as the newcomer called her, groans. “You know what?” she starts. “Someday, _I’m_ going to be the thief, so I can get all the damn money you owe me from you,” she snorts dryly, reaching over playfully shove the woman’s shoulder.

So she _was_ a thief, she got one of them right. 

The thief snickers, waving Sky off as she heads off to go take some other bloke’s order when they call her, before taking a large gulp of whisky despite the burn the alcohol left on the throat, grinning as she runs her hand through her hair before eyeing the other woman again.

“You know,” she comments at first. “You must be new, I haven’t seen you around here before, and I know almost everyone in this bar by now,” she comments, raising a brow. “Are you just passing through? A new citizen? Everyone shares their story at some point in this damn place, and I’m willing to listen, maybe even tell you about myself if I get drunk enough.”

She chuckles at that, watching the thief through narrowed eyes. “And why would I tell you anything about myself?”

“Cause,” the thief shrugs. “Why not? I’ve told everyone else in this damn tavern about myself in exchange for things they know or witnessed, it’s fair of me to at least ask.”

“And what,” the other woman starts, looking up to meet the thief’s gaze with her own eyes. “Exactly is interesting enough about you that might garner me to tell you about myself?” Her gaze is almost apathetic, but if it bothers the thief, she doesn’t let it be known, snickering cockily as she takes another sip of whisky.

“Plenty of things,” she starts. “Some of them are classified, sorry, sweetheart, royal’s orders,” she shrugs. “But if you’re still here when that damn king is kicked out of here,” her voice is a mere whisper now, one meant to be only caught by close ears. “You’ll know partially where to look.”

It sends chills down the woman’s spine, almost, how serious the thief’s voice had gotten, and she starts as the raven-haired woman gets up suddenly, an empty glass of whisky pushed up toward the edge of the counter, a single gold ring inside it. She begins to head over to the entrance cutting the bar off from the dining entrance before the woman turns, her hood nearly flying off as she watches her.

_‘She said royals, didn’t she? So she might know…damn it, and I told myself I was going to drop this shit and leave by tomorrow, guess not.’_

“Wait!” she blurts, almost without control. The thief freezes in her tracks, turning as the woman pulls down her hood, revealing sharp green eyes, golden-brown skin, and long, white-blonde hair. She reaches into one of the pouches on her armour’s belt and pulls out a small bag of coin, slamming it on the bar, not losing eye contact with the thief. 

“One whisky and another rum,” she says bluntly, not even looking toward the barkeep. “And you,” she smirks slightly at the thief, who calmly returns the smirk, before pointing at herself with a thumb. “I’m Rhino.”

There’s a flash of something in Meredith’s eyes, Rhino notices, almost...recognition, as the thief’s brows furrow, though Rhino doesn’t question it this once. “Rhino, huh? I’m Meredith,” the thief responds evenly, her smirk only growing as she regards the blonde. “I wager this might be the start of a possible...friendship?”

Rhino snorts, a roll of her green eyes answering the thief’s asked question, though she reaches a hand out and beckons Meredith over with a finger, then pointing at the barstool she’d sat at prior.

“Don’t push it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in one weekend heck yeah!!!!
> 
> Our lovebirds are back together, and it looks like Rhino's met a certain thief as well! How will this turn out? We'll see!
> 
> Next Chapter: The final plan commences with a bit of talk before it, this will either be a small chapter to explain the planning process or a large chapter with the plan being enacted, we'll see!


	13. XII - The Pre-Heist Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for everyone's favourite show; Five WLW Plan a Heist à la Ocean's Eight and talk about their feelings!

Vi wakes up first on the day the heist is supposed to be done, her eye opening slowly, blearily, and she blinks tiredly, grumbling softly as she reaches a hand up to rub the sleep out of it.

The entire past week had been almost _too_ relaxing considering what was to come tonight, outside of the one meeting Vi and Meredith had the day after Amber had returned to the castle. The thief had not only lectured her (and Vi says “lectured” lightly, considering it’d really been more of a soft threat) on her not being honest about who she was but then proceeded to flash her this odd knowing look, as if she knew something Vi didn’t know.

It had unnerved Vi, however, she’d been too focused on the plan to really question it. They’d managed to finalise mostly everything, though Meredith insisted they have one more meeting in Amber’s room, despite how ridiculous and risky it had been to plan the meeting there.

_‘I still think the tavern would have been a safer place, or, Hell, even my room,’_ Vi thinks with a soft huff, though, at least it meant she didn’t really have to move, considering she was already in the princess’ room.

The risk of getting caught was worth it, in Vi’s eye, considering she not only got to rest on a bed softer than sin but she also got to be with the girl she loved. Amber was nestled into Vi’s side, the knight’s arm wrapped around her loosely as she slept, and as Vi turned to look at her, she couldn’t help but smile at how peaceful the smaller girl looked, sleeping soundly.

_‘I remember when she used to have trouble sleeping,’_ she remarks in her head. _‘Before we got together, she’d always be so exhausted in the mornings because of it, or would wake up late entirely.’_

Sleep had mussed up Amber’s hair, and Vi had an urge to reach forward and comb her fingers through it to attempt to fix it at least a little, however she refrains, deciding to not risk waking Amber up quite yet as she slowly sits up in bed, almost reluctantly, stretching with a soft yawn.

She slowly gets to her feet, grumbling as she rubs her eye again, before crouching down on the ground to gingerly grab her linen leisurewear shirt so she could pull it on, pulling out her hair when it gets caught in the shirt.

She eyes the clock, furrowing her brows. _‘Meredith said she’d be around here near noon...and it’s ten now…so two hours of doing...whatever.’_

They’d need to get something to eat, at the very least, though as Vi turns to look at Amber gears begin to turn in her head.

_‘She’s going to run herself ragged with worry tonight considering she’s not going to have much involvement in the plan, neither am I, really, it’s just all going to be Meredith,’_ she thinks as she smiles slightly. _‘Perhaps I can at least give her a relaxed morning, if anything.’_

She leaves the princess’ room after that for a little bit to go find a maid, quickly informing them on what she needed. The maid nods and heads down to get some help, and Vi walks back to the room, shutting it behind her.

_‘I almost wonder if I can get this set up before Amber wakes…’_

Minutes of waiting later, Vi watches a few maids or other helpers come in with small basins or containers of warm water, and Vi grimaces a little when she sees steam rising off one of the basins.

_‘I really hope none of them have poured that on themselves on accident…’_ she thinks, shuddering at the thought.

It takes a good thirty minutes, maybe a little more to fill the tub with the amount of castle staff helping, and Vi tries to thank them all as they leave, not liking the idea of having to not only heat up the water but carry it upstairs as well. While Amber was still asleep, Vi picks up the tray of food one maid brought in for lunch and places it beside her in case she wakes up before she leaves the room again, sprinting down the hall and down two flights of stairs to head to the gardens.

A few of the castle staff eye her oddly, she wasn’t usually seen by them out of armour, busy Vi didn’t particularly care, heading into the gardens. Nobody was out yet, she’d made sure of that the day prior just in case Meredith tried entering Amber’s room using her...less typical way of entrance.

Upon spotting her quarry, Vi rushes over, looking around as if expecting someone to see her before she wraps her fingers around the stem of a pink rose, pulling and twisting the stem until she could pull one of the roses away from it’s bush, cursing as thorns prick her fingers. She gazes at the flower for a long moment, appraising it like a jeweller might toward a gemstone, before nodding to herself, turning on her heels and sprinting back into the castle, practically flying up the stairs and back to Amber’s room, breathless.

She closes the door a bit too harshly when she gets back, however, and she cringes when Amber begins to stir, cursing softly under her breath as she races past, skidding into the bathroom. She, with more care than she normally might give, carefully pulls petals off the rose and throws them into the bathtub, grinning to herself at the sight. Testing the water with her finger, Vi finds it still feeling hot, and she nods to herself again, growing prouder by the second as her grin grows.

_‘Good job, Vi, you’re officially the BEST girlfriend ever...outside of the stuff that happened last week,’_ she thinks as she begins to head back into the bedroom, a proud gait to her walk as she struts into the bedroom, her trademark smirk appearing as she eyes Amber, who was now sitting up in bed, groggily rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning, love,” the knight says in a sing-song tone, sitting down on the mattress as Amber looks up, the princess beaming at the sight of her girlfriend. Vi leans over to press a kiss to the shorter girl’s forehead before the princess speaks.

“Good morning,” Amber murmurs, noticing the tray next to her. She smiles and reaches over immediately, grabbing a grape off the platter before popping it into her mouth. 

“You look like you’ve been doing...something,” she comments after swallowing, before gesturing toward Vi’s hand. “What happened there? Did you somehow manage to piss off a _bush_ of all things?”

Vi snorts at that, rolling her eye in amusement. “You’ll see,” she says, stealing a strawberry off the bowl on the tray, though Amber, per usual, isn’t bothered by it. “Since we’ll be seeing Meredith for that meeting in...an hour to an hour and a half, I thought I might give you a nice morning since I know you’ll be worried off your ass in the evening.”

Amber huffs. “I wasn’t aware that me worrying that my best friend might get lynched was a bad thing.”

“It’s not, I just don’t want you worrying yourself to _death,_ lovely,” Vi chuckles, leaning down to peck Amber’s lips for a moment.

“Well,” Amber murmurs, her cheeks a faint pink. “Do I get to know what you’re hiding from me, then? Or must I wait longer?”

Vi smirks. “There’s that lack of patience I know and love,” she teases, laughing as Amber rolls her eyes. “But if you wanna skip lunch…just follow me.”

She moves back, standing up as she winks at Amber before sauntering off toward the bathroom entryway. She hears Amber begin to follow her, the faint sound of her bare feet against the hardwood floor barely making it to Vi’s ears as she continues over to the bathtub, turning as she reaches it. Amber was following her still, her head tilting a little in curiosity before she notices the full tub with rose petals in it, and a dark shade of red begins to rise on her skin.

“Oh- you…” she breathes, a flustered smile beginning to appear on Amber’s face. “You...wow, Vi, you didn’t have to do all this…”

“Eh, well,” Vi starts, her smirk turning into a genuine smile. “I like treating my girlfriend like the princess she is.”

“Well, Amber murmurs, testing the water with her fingertips. “Then I suppose I should treat _my_ girlfriend like the princess she _also_ is,” she chuckles, turning to regard Vi with a knowing smirk.

“Well,” Vi snickers. “I guess I technically _am_ a princess, aren’t I?” she adds, her smirk returning as Amber tugs her over by her shirt hem. “Though I think I prefer being your knight.”

Amber pulls at Vi’s shirt, attempting to pull it off despite their height difference. “Technically speaking you can do both...but if you prefer to be my knight, I guess I can’t really argue with that.”

Vi helps Amber in taking off her shirt, proceeding to move her hands to the hem of Amber’s nightgown. “As long as you’re my princess.”

“Always,” Amber murmurs, as Vi pulls the gown over her head, and Vi gasps a little when feeling Amber’s fingers working on untying the drawstring of the trousers she was wearing.

Once they’re both undressed, Vi gets in the tub first, beckoning Amber over as she sinks in to her sternum. The princess smiles almost bashfully before following her in, positioning herself so that she could lean her back against Vi’s chest, humming softly in appreciation at the warm water and at the feeling of Vi’s arms around her waist. For maybe a little bit, they could enjoy this feeling of blissful silence, and with a smile, Vi realises it reminds her of the night after the party, how she’d watched the stars while Amber slept in her arms.

Vi sighs softly, leaning her head down to press her face against Amber’s shoulder and the side of her neck. 

“I already never wanna leave,” she groans softly, nuzzling her face against the princess’ skin. “I just want to curl up in a warm space with you and forget that there are people out there who would try to make it so we can’t get married, if we wanted, or that would try to kill us for their selfish wishes.”

“That’s the problem with being royalty, my love,” Amber murmurs in response. “But I think we both know that nobody is going to hurt either of us without the other one coming to their rescue,” she adds.

“Don’t go throwing yourself into danger for me, Amb,” Vi mumbles, pressing a kiss to the princess’ pale skin. “You’re too cute to get your ass kicked by some brute an entire foot taller than you.”

“Thanks for the confidence, babe! Really helps,” Amber sighs dramatically, shaking her head as Vi laughs and moves her arms to drape them over the lip of the tub.

“I’m just speaking the truth!” She states, running her right hand through her hair. “You’re soft, that dagger might be able to keep someone at bay but...I’m pretty sure I could throw you like a pillow.”

“Hmph, whatever,” Amber mutters in response, tilting her head up to press a kiss to the column of Vi’s throat. “Just means you can carry me around more.”

“Ah, I see,” Vi laughs again, her lips pressing against Amber’s head affectionately. “That’s my use to you.”

“Mm, among other things,” Amber murmurs softly, her nose brushing up against Vi’s neck as she presses her face against it. 

They’re silent for a bit, Vi realising the water was beginning to, unfortunately, grow cold, and she smiles slightly as one more question pops into her head.

“Amber?”

Amber hums softly in acknowledgement. “Mm?”

“I know it’s...way too soon...to even possibly...consider it,” she starts, not knowing how to even properly phrase this. “But if you and I…are still a thing in a few years…”

“If you’re asking me to take your hand in marriage the answer is already yes,” Amber cuts in, and Vi begins to grin as she feels the shorter girl’s lips curl into a smile against her skin.

“Let me finish!” the knight laughs softly. “Yes, I was going to ask that, but with the complications of everything I thought you might not have a definite answer.”

“Please,” Amber murmurs, slowly manoeuvring herself so that she was facing Vi. “I don’t care how complicated us being together might be, you’re not getting rid of me anytime soon.”

Vi smiles genuinely, watching Amber slowly drape her arms around her shoulders, nearing Vi so they could press their foreheads together.

“Once my stepfather is gone…” Amber mutters softly, looking into Vi’s eye. “There’s nothing stopping us from being together,” she points out.

“Your people aren’t going to like the Princess of Agraewyn marrying their heir to the throne with our reputation,” Vi points out as well.

“See, I don’t particularly care about that right now,” Amber smirks, “And since nobody knows about you being the queen’s daughter other than our group of friends...we’ll cover the people finding out when that time comes.”

“That’s if my mother doesn’t throw a fit-“

“If your mother wants this kingdom so badly she’ll be happy to know you’ll be queen alongside me once my mother steps down,” Amber shrugs. “But I _refuse_ to turn Aetheria into what Agraewyn has become.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Vi chuckles, sighing. “But...let’s face that when it becomes a big issue, okay? I don’t want to think about my mother right now.”

Amber sighs as well, smiling slightly. “Neither do I,” she murmurs. “Maybe we’ll always have to deal with trouble, but honestly? I’m fine with that as long as you’re here.”

That makes Vi smile genuinely again. “I could say the same thing,” she exhales softly, watching as Amber moves closer. 

“Good,” the princess mutters, pressing her lips gently against Vi’s. It’s a soft, loving kiss, and Vi finds herself melting into it, a soft sigh of relief leaving her lips when they part for a moment.

She had more worries in her about the future, she knew that well enough, felt it in her gut, but Vi wasn’t one to constantly worry until the thing she was anxious about happened, she would enjoy the time she had until the time came to face the danger head-on, and she wasn’t going to make Amber worry constantly, if they were going to cherish the times of total peace and bliss, they had to while they could.

Being a royal was difficult sometimes, Amber wasn’t lying. They’d have to deal with politics, war, and how the people of the land Aetheria resides in were faring, which was partially why Vi had always been grateful Max was her older sibling; he’d have taken the throne back at home, not her. But now she was possibly getting what she was so apprehensive about before, which was a kingdom to rule over. But, as she sat there, kissing the girl she loved more than anything, she reckoned, she felt like she could handle it.

Besides, if anything, she knew Amber would listen if she decided that being a queen wasn’t her thing.

\---------------------------------------

Vi and Amber had barely gotten their clothes back on and settled when there was a sharp rap at their door. Vi had answered it while Amber was still shimmying her way into a gown she’d be comfortable walking in during the day, smiling as she spotted Skylar on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Sky,” the knight greets, letting her in as Amber walks in from the bathroom entryway, pale blue gown on, though Vi moves over to help tie the back. “You’re a bit early!”

“Yeah, well,” Skylar goes to take a seat on the stool that rests in front of Amber’s vanity. “I decided to come a bit early just in case the guards held me up despite knowing who I am,” she comments with a roll of her eyes. “They did last time, it’s like Joseph doesn’t _want_ any of Amber’s friends to see her.”

“He probably doesn’t,” Amber grumbles, kissing Vi on the cheek as a thank-you for tying the drawstring on her dress. “I doubt he’s that big a fan of me being friends with “common folk”.

That makes Skylar roll her eyes. “Please, he needs us “common folk” to keep his damn kingdom on its feet, I think he can stand you being friends with me of all things.”

Amber laughs at that, though Vi notices her response is cut off when the bell tower nearby signifying a passing hour goes off, meaning it was noon. The knight sighs.

“Well, Meredith should be here any minute now,” she starts, once the ringing ends. “I assume she’s taking the…"creative” way in?” she asks, pointing a thumb toward the balcony.

Skylar nods, though she pauses as her lips move into a fine line, as if realising something. “Yes, but- uh, Vi? There’s something- well, Meredith…” she sighs. “You’ll see.”

Vi furrows her brows at that. “What? What’s up with Mer-” she pauses, turning as she begins to hear noises near the balcony, and she sighs, spotting a familiar head of black hair pop up, clutching on the wall of the balcony after having likely climbed up the trellis that sat below the balcony in the gardens. She flashes Amber, Vi, and Skylar a goofy grin before scrambling over the guard wall, falling down onto the stone ground with a soft “oof!”

Vi rolls her eye, but she can’t help but smile, amusement glittering in her eye as Meredith slowly gets back to her feet, dusting herself off. She opens the door for a moment with an almost...nervous grin.

“Hey, everyone,” she starts, and Skylar groans already. “So, news for everyone, but...I brought a visitor!”

“You brought _what?!_ ” Amber gasps. “Who? Mer, this was supposed to be secret!”

“Yeah, well, unfortunately for you, Amb, but she didn’t exactly want to be left out,” Meredith retorts. And before you try to point anything sharp at her, she is here to _help,_ she isn’t an enemy, I promise.”

Vi narrows her eye. Who could possibly not be a risk now, when they were so close to enacting their plans? “Unless it’s that leader of that group of thieves you borrowed that map from, I’m not sure I’m interested.”

“Oh,” Meredith smirks, going over to the balcony wall before looking back at Vi. “I think you might be a _little_ interested,” she adds, reaching her hand out as she speaks. A hand shoots out and grasps Meredith’s, and the thief pulls until the person she’d brought with her was revealed, one leg dangled inside of the balcony and the other one still outside as she sat on the stone guard.

Vi feels her throat go dry, recognising the blonde hair and green eyes immediately as they slowly regard each person in the room. She feels Amber stiffen against her, and once again feels an urge to push the princess behind her.

“Hey,” Rhino waves slightly, accepting Meredith’s hand again as she hops onto the stone floor of the balcony, snorting in faint amusement over the look on Vi, and likely Amber’s, faces, and she holds her hands up as if surrendering.

“Calm down, I’m not here to hurt either of you this time,” she snickers, though the sheaths lining her belt don’t really soothe Vi much. “Lucky for you too, this dolt here told me everything once she figured out who I was and once I realised she knew you two, and I’m not leaving this damn kingdom without taking down at least one royal, and I think the king might get me more points than the princess.”

Vi is the first to let her guard down, slowly relaxing as she lets out a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding. “You’re...going to help?”

“Mhm,” Rhino enters the room after Meredith, gazing around for as she speaks. “You all want that financial record book out, right? Well, I doubt me going with that one,” she nods to Meredith. “Would harm the mission much, hm?”

“Yeah, actually, it’d help,” Meredith nods after waving at Skylar. “Four eyes instead of two, after all, and a second person to help me take out guards,” she adds with a shrug, before sighing softly as she gazes at Amber first, then Vi. “Look, I know you three got off on a...rough start, here, that is,” she smiles slightly. “But I trust Rhino, we’ve been talking all week, she doesn’t seem like she’s lying.”

“Pff, why _would_ I lie? What am I gonna do, shank the king? Either way, I’d clearly be making the kingdom happy, judging by what Meredith told me,” Rhino snorts. “I might have skewed views, but even I think Joseph is a cunt, and the fact that I’d get half the credit for taking him out? That’s good enough for me.”

“I’m surprised,” Vi comments after a moment, eyeing Meredith with a slight smirk. “I don’t know a lot of people who can have the ability to say that they were able to hang out with Rhino for a week, if she doesn’t like you or doesn’t want to hang out with you she usually makes it clear.”

Rhino rolls her eyes. “Don’t make me justify my friendship with that oversized blackberry.”

Meredith beams. “I love that,” she starts. “When she calls me her friend,” she adds, as Rhino rolls her eyes again, though, to Vi’s interest, an exasperated smile appears on the assassin’s face.

“I’m not making you justify anything, it’s nice seeing you around other people, Meredith’s great, I think you’d both get along splendidly,” Vi shrugs, offering Rhino a small smile. When Rhino returns it for a moment, it makes Vi at least feel a bit better.

_‘I need to properly apologise to her when I get the chance, I’ll pull aside after we talk,’_ she thinks, turning to glance at Amber, who was watching the exchange the three were having curiously from beside her. Vi wraps an arm around the princess’ waist before speaking again.

“Oh, okay, hold on, let me get you two introduced properly, I forgot that last time you both met Rhino had the intention of kidnapping you,” she comments with a snicker as both Amber and Rhino roll their eyes at once. “Amber, this is Rhino, one of my close friends,” she nods to the assassin. “Rhino, this is Amber, my…” she smiles almost proudly, tightening her grip around Amber’s waist. “Girlfriend.”

Rhino nods. “I know that already, but…” she reaches out an arm, taking Amber’s hand in her own to shake it. “Nice to meet you, I guess,” she shrugs. “I...also guess I’m sorry for attempting to kidnap you when we first met.”

“It’s...fine,” Amber nods, though she keeps standing next to Vi. “Just don’t do it again, please.”

That makes Rhino smirk slightly. “I’ll think about it.”

Vi rolls her eye in amusement, though as she begins to respond, Meredith walks away from the group, walking over to Amber’s desk. Vi tilts her head a little, watching the black-haired girl either push things aside or put them on the shelves nearby before she slides a hand into the jacket she was wearing, pulling out the long roll of parchment Vi remembered being shown almost two months ago. She smooths it on the table before grabbing a few books off Amber’s shelf to put on the corners of the map so it wouldn’t curl in on itself.

“Well,” the thief starts, turning to glance at the crowd behind her. “Unfortunately, I don’t have all day, so let’s get this done before sunset hits, alright?”

Vi nods, walking over to stand beside Meredith as the taller girl pulls out a pouch from her belt, setting it down on the map as Rhino takes her other side, hands bracing the table. Skylar and Amber stand where they can still see, the two girls both having furrowed brows as they curiously eye the map.

Untying the string on the bag, Meredith turns it over, letting a few messily painted wood chips, a gold ring, and a few small pebbles tumble onto the table.

“Ah, are we playing a board game, then?” Vi comments with a witty tone, smirking. “Because if so I call being the ring.”

Rhino rolls her eyes. “As if, you’d be one of those rough looking pebbles, if anything _I’d_ be the ring-”

“Actually,” Meredith grabs the ring, placing it down right on the spot of the map that was labelled “Princess’ Room. “The ring is for Amber because it kinda looks like a tiny crown...if you squint. I made little things like these,” she holds a red token up, “to signify all of us, except for Skylar, who sadly won’t be here, but I got her a little thing too,” she explains, placing a small alcohol glass outside the map.

“Is that one of _my_ glasses?” Skylar furrows her brows as she gazes at the glass. “Did you seriously steal one of-“

“I will give it back to you when I’m done! Do you want to be included or not?!”

“I’d _like_ you to not steal my things!”

“It’s not stealing when I’m _borrowing_ it!”

“Borrowing implies that you _asked_ beforehand, Meredith!”

As the two’s bickers finally begin to quiet, Rhino proceeds to shove her face into her hands as Vi begins to laugh.

“Good to know I signed up for a plan led by an absolute _child,_ ” the blonde groans, though as Meredith looks up to playfully stick her tongue out at Rhino, Vi notices Rhino roll her eyes and smile slightly in amusement.

“ _Anyways,_ ” the thief continues, placing a white painted wood chip with a large black ‘X’ drawn on it in likely charcoal on a room in the ‘King’s Chambers’ section of the map. “That’s our target, kept under lock and key, only two men in this entire castle are allowed in, and that’s the king himself or his advisor,” she explains. “Which is why,” she places a plain wood chip, not painted, on the king’s bedroom. “I’ll be snatching those keys.”

“From Joseph’s room?” Amber questions, giving Meredith a worried look. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” 

“Your stepdad conks out at around nine because not only is he old but he’s also boring as fuck,” Meredith snorts, turning to glance at Amber, noticing not just her but Vi and Rhino’s surprised looks. “Scouts, remember? Paid a few to stalk his windows to get his sleep patterns, what am I, some sort of amateur?” 

Vi whistles softly, impressed. “I completely forgot you mentioned getting help from your guild, honestly.” 

Even Rhino looks decently impressed as she eyes Meredith for a moment. “Huh, maybe I was wrong about the “working with an absolute child” thing.” 

“Aw, really?” Meredith puts a hand to her chest dramatically. “I’m flattered, really, I almost feel loved.” 

That makes Rhino roll her eyes. “Don’t push it, Mer.” 

“Oh, I will,” Meredith responds with a wink, continuing before Rhino could reply. “Anyways, these pebbles here are guards,” she explains, placing two by the entranceway into the chamber and two in random spots inside. “There’s always two guarding the chamber entrance and according to my scouts there’s one to two patrolling the corridor from time to time, so we’ll have to keep an eye out.” 

Rhino nods. “Got it, but as long as we keep to the shadows, everything should be alright.” 

“Mhm, here’s the catch, though,” Meredith turns to look at Rhino. “We can’t kill the guards in the front, or, if we do, we can’t do it out in the hall, we have to get them to follow one of us into an area we can knock them out or kill them in.” 

“Would killing them really be a good idea? What if you both get in trouble?” Skylar points out, pursing her lips for a moment as she takes some time to think. “I mean, I know you both can’t really get caught as long as you flee the scene without leaving something, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk." 

“All those guards in there think Joseph is some saint, and they support him despite him clearly being a huge cunt, we don’t need people like that in this kingdom,” Meredith huffs. “Forgive me for wanting the people who support cutting thieves fingers off as punishment for being caught dead, I’ve seen so many guild members have to retire early depending on how severe it is, not to mention Joseph’s firm belief in torture that’s possibly harmed hundreds by now, if anything this is karma for supporting him.” 

Skylar sighs. “I just think maybe letting them follow Joseph out when he gets booted would be better, honestly, plus it leaves less of a mess. You’re not killing Joseph, remember? Why kill some random guards?” 

Meredith snorts. “I might not be killing Joseph, but we don’t know what Lorelei will decide, for all you know she’ll have his head chopped off or have him hung. Those guards are his most trusted men, and they’re dying tonight. That’s final.” 

Rhino nods. “I agree,” she starts. “For all you know, Skylar, with those being his trusted guards, those men could have _been_ the ones tasked to torture, maim, or, as Meredith mentioned, cut peoples _fingers_ off, something that could leave someone without a job permanently. They chose this path, and if they’re really going to die for it, so be it.” 

Skylar opens her mouth to retort, though she pauses, and she slowly shuts it. “I...fine, but,” she looks Meredith in the eyes. “Please be careful.” 

“I survived fighting that guy with the mace-” 

“With Vi’s help.” 

“Yeah, but Rhino will be with me, and I’m more than capable of holding my own, I’ll be fine, Sky, I promise,” Meredith offers her a reassuring grin, though Skylar still looks nervous, only nodding a little bit in response. 

“Not to butt in on an ending conversation, but I think Mer will be okay,” Vi finally comments, offering the thief a small smile. She’s a strong fighter, and I _know_ Rhi is a talented fighter too, and if anything those guards should worry, they’re all going to get completely obliterated.” 

“Hell yeah they are,” Meredith nods with a cocky smirk, before turning back to the desk. 

“Let’s finish this up, shall we?” she states only a moment after, moving the chips that hadn’t been placed yet into place. There was a silver one for Vi next to Amber’s ring. (Vi assumes it’s for her armour.) and then a red and blue chip right in front of the two pebbles representing the door guards. “Since we’ll need to lead the guards somewhere isolated and away from where someone could stumble upon their bodies, one of us will need to trick them into following her to said isolated space, which,” Meredith looks up at Rhino, who gives her a blank look. “Uh...might have to be you.” 

“Shocker,” Rhino sighs heavily. “What were you going to do if I wasn’t here, though?” 

“I would be using Amber’s help, which would be riskier since lord knows if those guards would even listen to her,” Meredith rolls her eyes, and Vi feels Amber sigh in relief beside her. 

“Yeah, that’d be a risk,” the princess confirms. “Most guards assigned to the king don’t like me too much.” 

Rhino nods, though her brows suddenly furrow. “Wait, how am I supposed to trick them? I’m not exactly blending in right now, the most I’d do is make one of them sound an alarm.” 

Meredith smiles sheepishly, which makes Rhino squint and Vi tilt her head a little. “Well,” she starts. “You’re not going to like it.” 

“We won’t know that until you tell me, so spit it out,” Rhino responds shortly, suspicion clear in her eyes and expression as she doesn’t break eye contact with the taller girl next to her. 

“...I might’ve...borrowed a maid’s uniform off one of the scouts in the guild so you could-” 

Anything else Meredith says is drowned out as Vi bursts into laughter at the mortified look on Rhino’s face, having to slap her palm on the table to keep herself steady as she guffawed. Even Amber was clearly amused, the smaller girl leaning on Vi and shaking with laughter. 

“You’re making me do this plan with you in a MAID’S UNIFORM?!” the assassin yells, eyes wide. “ _Fuck_ no! I’ll look ridiculous!” 

“Oh, and I’d look any less stupid?” Meredith counters, pointing at her scarred face. “I’m not exactly the maid type, Rhino, they’d believe you being one over me!” 

“God,” Rhino groans, shoving her face into her hands for a long moment. “There isn’t _any_ other option? Any?” 

“Not any I can prepare or think of in less than ten hours,” Meredith fires back. “You can take it off once we get past the damn door, okay? Just please do this one thing-” 

“Fine,” Rhino concedes. “But if you _ever_ bring this up to anyone that isn’t currently in this room right now I will _kill_ you, got it?” 

“Deal,” Meredith nods, snickering. “It can just be a joke between us.” 

The glare Rhino sends Meredith after that makes the thief clearly decide that continuing is the best way to go, as she laughs for a moment before turning back to the map, moving the red token and the two pebbles. 

“As I was saying, Rhino will lead them off to a room, this empty guest bedroom should do,” she starts, moving the red token and pebbles into the small square. “And I’ll be following them and slip in and attack one of them from behind while Rhi takes the other one,” she adds, moving the blue chip. She has the red and blue chip knock down the pebbles before moving them out. “And then we’ll enter the hall, I’ll sneak into the king’s room...take his keys while he sleeps, since he keeps them on his desk like an idiot, and come back out, if we have to take care of the other guards we will, and then we just get into the advisor room,” she’s moving the tokens as she speaks. “Grab the book, and book it out of the castle and bring the book back in the morning.” 

Rhino had been nodding along to the plan, though she pauses at the end. “We leave the same way we came in, right?” 

“Mhm, through the garden, since, thanks to Vi,” she smiles over at the knight, who nods with a grin. “It won’t be guarded.” 

“King’s too busy guarding the woods and the front of the castle to give a damn about the gardens,” the knight shrugs. “All it took was a little persuasion around the barracks, just some mentions that I noticed some signs of mercenaries near the woodlands, and they haven’t touched the garden since." 

Rhino nods again. “And those two,” she nods toward Vi and Amber. “Will be in here the entire time? Why don’t we just drop off the book?” 

“Amber’s room is a floor above the king’s,” Meredith explains. “And, honestly, once we get the book we need to get out as fast as we can, because as soon as the bodies we left get found or the king or his advisor find out that books is gone, the entire kingdom is going to go up in flames. The only reason we might be able to get back in tomorrow is because Vi will be able to sneak us in through the gardens again.” 

“Hm,” Rhino nods after thinking. “Alright, fine, then, sounds good to me, I’ll come tomorrow as long as it’s safe.” 

“You should be fine,” Amber cuts in with a nod. “My mother will listen before she does anything, and it’ll be her who we’re all going to show the book to tomorrow, once I manage to drag her into my room.” 

Rhino eyes Amber for a moment before giving her a short nod, and after that, the room goes quiet for a moment, giving Vi a chance to think and let all this soak in. 

She was worried for Meredith and Rhino, of course, knowing the worst could happen, though unlike Amber, who Vi knew would be likely awake all night worrying, Vi was trying her best to stay optimistic. She liked the plan Meredith had, she’d partially helped make it after all, and after months of preparing, Vi felt like they were ready for this. Not only were they doing this for Amber’s sake, finally freeing her of the threat of another betrothed, but they were helping the entirety of Aetheria, especially the thieves guild of Aendryr, which, Vi knew, was partially the reason Meredith was so passionate about this. She knew the thief was much more crafty than she let on, but the parts of the plan she had done herself before even coming here this morning definitely impressed Vi, especially the scouts and the procuring of the map the thief was currently rolling up. 

_‘She’d make an excellent leader someday,’_ Vi realises in her head, regarding Meredith curiously. _‘Smart, determined, assertive, and confident, all good traits for one, it almost makes me wonder if Meredith would ever consider leading the guild she’s in one day.’_

The idea makes Vi involuntarily snicker. Considering Amber and Meredith’s close friendship, the idea of the Leader of the Aendryr Thieves Guild and the Queen of Aetheria being possibly allied together was certainly a rather amusing idea. As she considers the possibilities, she looks up, eyeing Rhino for a moment. 

_‘I think at this point she knows I’m not leaving Aetheria anytime soon, and if I do marry Amber someday I’ll be tied to this castle and kingdom, I…’_ she frowns a little. _‘I hope she might consider staying here, but I’d understand if she’d prefer to go back to Agraewyn. We grew up there, after all.’_

Though she notices Rhino turn and lean up against the table, the blonde chatting with Meredith openly about something, Vi wasn’t within earshot since they were talking quietly, though she smiles slightly when noticing the slight smile on Rhino’s lips as Meredith says something that makes herself laugh. 

_‘Those two...I think I remember thinking Meredith would like Rhino back when we first met, guess my hunch was correct, it’s nice seeing Rhino smile, even if it’s only slight.’_

She turns, having noticed Amber had left her side some few minutes ago, and she spots her a little ways away, sitting on the edge of her bed beside Skylar as they chatted about something, the two both having gentle smiles on their faces. Seeing her lover happy makes Vi smile, and she turns away again. 

She stands in silence for a bit, content in seeing her friends happy, though when Meredith pardons herself from the conversation she was having with Rhino after Amber beckons her over to tell her something with Skylar, leaving Rhino to look around Amber’s room from where she was, Vi takes this as her chance and walks over to her friend, moving to stand beside her. Rhino’s attention snaps onto her immediately, her brows raising. 

“Need something?” 

Vi nods, smiling a little. “I just wanted to talk is all, maybe out there?” she nods toward the balcony. “I kinda wanna sit outside for a bit, it’s nice out.” 

Rhino leans a little to eye the balcony for a long moment before she nods. “Sure, why not,” she shrugs, already moving to head over there. “I wanted to check out the view anyways.” 

Vi nods, and she follows the taller woman, leaving the door open as they both step out onto the balcony, Rhino hopping up onto the guard wall, sitting on it as she looks around, Vi moving to lean against the guard, her left hand resting on the smooth surface. 

“So,” Rhino starts after a moment, tearing her gaze away from the garden as the light breeze makes her hair sway a little. “What do you want to talk about? I assume it’s something serious? We haven’t really spoken at all, after all.” 

“Yeah,” Vi nods, sighing softly. She takes a deep breath, hoping that she’d manage to say what she wanted to say right. “Look, Rhi, I…” she looks up into the other woman’s green eyes, frowning a little. “I’m sorry, for not letting you know what was going on and scaring you like I did,” she starts. “It was a dick move, I just...didn’t know how to tell you and Max what was going on, I didn’t want my mother finding out, and I was worried she’d somehow find out, or that-” 

“I’d tell her?” Rhino guesses, tilting her head a little as she raises a brow. “Back then, you know, I probably would have,” she admits. “I would have assumed the princess had manipulated you and that we’d need to save you, but…” there’s a weak, though faint smile as she regards Vi. “Now that I’ve seen you too, and heard what Meredith’s said about you both and Amber in general...It’s obvious that’s not the case.” 

“Yeah, well, that’s true,” Vi nods, slowly taking a seat as well. “But, still, after that fought we had I couldn’t help but feel bad, realising I’d let all of you believe I was dead, you know?” she adds. “Oh, and, uh, that reminds me, sorry for punching you in the gut too, when we fought I mean.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I kinda deserved that for grabbing you by the throat,” Rhino snorts dryly. “And, honestly, Vi, I forgive you,” she adds after a moment, looking the knight in the eyes. “I can understand why you did what you did, just...never do it again, and, please, for me,” her slight smile fades. “Do me a favour and, next time you see him, apologise to Max, too, I know sending letters is a risk, so you’ll have to wait, but I want to ask now, before I forget.” 

Vi nods. “I was planning on it,” she admits. “Not through letter, but I know I’ll likely have to return to Agraewyn at some point and explain myself, maybe when all of this shit is dealt with and I’m more comfortable with leaving for an extended period of time.” 

“I’ll go with you when you do, but..” Rhino pauses for a moment. “I…” she, to Vi’s surprise, looks almost sheepish. “I quite like it here, I’ll admit.” 

“Oh?” Vi says, eye widening a little. “Really? I didn’t expect to hear that from you.” 

Rhino’s smile isn’t genuine, it’s almost bitter, honestly. “Well, I’ve been here for a week,” she begins to explain, “I’ve mostly been hanging around Meredith, she knows Aendryr like the back of her hand after all, plus I’ve found myself liking her company, to be utterly honest.” 

“I’ve noticed,” Vi chuckles, as Rhino goes to gaze out at the gardens again. “You two work off one another well, I’ve noticed.” 

“Do we?” Rhino questions, raising her brows despite her not looking at Vi. “Well, she’s nice, so I guess I’m glad we do.” 

“Mhm, plus seeing you smile a little when you talk to her makes me happy, I like seeing you happy.” 

“God,” Rhino snorts again. “You and Meredith _both_. I smiled only slightly at a joke she made a few days ago and she said that exact thing, about liking to see me happy.” 

“Oh?” Vi starts, smirking slightly. “So she _definitely_ likes you too, at the very least.” 

Rhino’s gaze returns to Vi’s face as her eyes narrow. “Don’t give me that tone, it’s not like that.” 

“ _Yet._ ” 

Rhino groans, rolling her eyes. “ _Vi._ ” 

“Oh, come on, I’m just teasing, don’t “Vi” me!” Vi snickers, gasping as Rhino reaches over to shove her shoulder. “Hey! Don’t shove me, if I fall and break my neck you’ll get hell for it and you know it!” 

“I’d prefer I not get attacked by your dwarf of a girlfriend and her friends, so you can live for now,” Rhino teases with a soft chuckle. “Keep teasing me though, and I might consider taking the risk.” 

“Fine, fine,” Vi snorts, rolling her eye in amusement. It takes her a bit to think of another question, giving Rhino the chance to look over to see if she could spot the city from where they were. 

“How are you liking Aendryr so far?” she eventually asks, her head tilting. “Or, Aetheria, really, but this is only one part of it.” 

Rhino doesn’t look back at Vi. “I…” Vi hears her sigh softly. “I wish I hadn’t believed the lies we were told in Agraewyn,” she admits, and Vi then realises why Rhino had given her a bitter smile earlier. “We were told that Aetheria’s capital was the worst of it, full of liars, murderers, just all around horrible people that didn’t treat outsiders properly, but my entire time here I’ve seen nothing but kindness,” she turns to look at Vi at this, her expression almost troubled. “The only bad person so far has been the king, and everyone is working together here to take him down, it’s just so...saddening to find out I’ve been disliking a kingdom for no fucking reason.” 

“Yeah, I know that feeling,” Vi sighs, scooting closer so she could lay a reassuring hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I felt just like that after Amber began being nice to me, she was so kind, generous, and...sweet, I couldn’t understand it at first,” she says, shaking her head. “After being told so many horrible things about Aetheria? How could I believe the royal family was good? But her mother saved me from possibly being forced to retire early, and Amber’s friends are some of the best people I’ve met, and I just...realised that Agraewyn lied just so…” 

“We would be more willing to raid Aetheria when the time came,” Rhino finishes for her, her lip curling a little. “They do this with any kingdom that isn’t ours, it just,” Rhino huffs, angrily looking toward the city again. “All my life I was raised to believe something that wasn’t true! Now I’m in the place our mentors told us we’d be lynched in for existing, only for people to wave to me in the early mornings when I’m up walking, and for people at the tavern to happily greet me and Meredith anytime we return there, it’s just not fair!” 

“I know, Rhi,” Vi murmurs, feeling pity for her friend as she gently squeezes her shoulder. “But you’re not there anymore, you’re here, and you don’t _have_ to go back.” 

“But I want to, at times,” Rhino admits. “I mean, why wouldn’t I? My older sister is there, I don’t want Max stuck there alone, but,” she sighs heavily. “I also would rather stay here, Meredith mentioned secret guilds she knew for bounty hunting of sorts, so if anything I wouldn’t be _unsuccessful_ here.” 

“One thing I’ve considered,” Vi comments. “Is that maybe my mother doesn’t entirely know about how nice Aetheria is because of how people raise everyone to believe it’s bad there,” she shrugs. “But I miss Max, too, if he wasn’t the heir to the throne I might suggest we somehow move him here too.” 

“He’ll make a good king, though,” Rhino mutters after a moment. “Of Agraewyn, too, despite how soft he is, you might argue it may lead to a better change.” 

“Exactly,” Vi nods. “But I know someday I’m going to have to go back to talk to my mother, can’t exactly have her try to start a war or send more assassins after the royal family, can we?” 

“Once you’re _apart_ of the royal family that might be a bit awkward, yeah,” Rhino points out, an amused twinkle in her eyes. 

After that, their conversation dies for a long while, and the two go silent before Vi finally clears her throat after a minute or two. 

“Hey, Rhino?” she starts, watching the blonde slowly turn to look at her. “Good luck tonight.” 

Rhino smirks slightly. “Thanks,” she starts with a brief nod. “You have good luck keeping your girlfriend calm while we’re doing this.” 

Vi, not expecting that, barks out in laughter. “You noticed?” 

“She was biting her lip and eyeing the map nervously as Meredith was explaining the plan the _entire_ time, it wasn’t too hard to notice.” 

Her laughter dying into soft chuckles, Vi sighs softly, running a hand through her hair as she smiles. “That sounds like her, alright,” she murmurs. “But she’ll be fine, I don’t need my girlfriend having an aneurysm over you both tonight, I’ll keep an eye on her.” 

“That _would_ be rather unfortunate, so good,” Rhino snickers. “Meredith mentioned how nervous she apparently got when you both went to kill that prince,” she comments, before grinning. “Which reminds me, look at you, killing nasty royal men, looks like you’re taking a page from my book.” 

“He was betrothed to Amber and was trying to usurp the throne using their betrothal,” Vi shrugs. “Not only that, but he was the reason I was lashed, so-” 

“Wait, what?!” Rhino’s eyes widen as she exclaims, her brows furrowing moments after. “You got _lashed?_ Meredith didn’t mention that!” 

“He attacked me on the way back to the barracks so I ripped his face open and kicked his ass, the king wasn’t too happy about that though, but I managed to get out of twenty lashes thanks to Amber’s mom, so it was only five...six times? I don’t remember. Amber helped me get better, though.” 

Rhino groans, rolling her eyes. “God, are you _sure_ we can’t just kill the king in his sleep?” 

That makes Vi chuckle. “Sadly, no, but I think the queen won’t be as merciful as we think, so he’ll at least get a nasty end.” 

“Good,” Rhino nods, rolling her eyes. “Jesus, twenty times…” she mutters under her breath, though Vi catches it. “You’d think he was trying to kill her, fuck’s sake....” 

Vi nods and opens her mouth to say something else, though she jumps when hearing the door creak open wider, turning to see Meredith poke her head out, and as she enters he balcony Vi notices her putting the pouch of items she’d brought in a pocket on her jacket. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” she starts, buttoning the pouch down. “But I need to get back to town, I have to return this map,” she slaps her chest in emphasis, Vi assuming the map was hidden in her jacket. “Before we do this, unless you want to risk possibly handing a bloodstained map you picked off my corpse to a most likely very angry leader of a guild of thieves.” 

“I’ll pass,” Rhino responds with an amused roll of her eyes. She scoots off the guard wall, nodding to Vi as she follows suit. 

“I’ll see you when all of this is over, Vi,” the blonde states, turning to look back at the knight. Meredith waves at Vi before she swings her leg over the wall, slowly beginning to climb down. 

“Don’t die on me, Rhi,” Vi responds with a slight smirk, giving her friend a salute as she follows Meredith. Rhino rolls her eyes in response. 

“I’ll try my best,” she says sarcastically before she disappears over the edge of the balcony, Vi hearing the trellis rattle a little as the two climb down. Once down, Vi watches Rhino and Meredith dash over to the hole in the garden wall before they disappear into it, and she turns, heading back into Amber’s room with a satisfied and happy smile on her face, heading over to bid farewell to Skylar as the girl was preparing to leave with a more confident air to her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I love talking chapters sometimes, helps settle so much and plus it's always nice to just see characters /talk/ to one another, converse with one another about how they're feeling. I almost wish I'd put in a part with Amber talking to Skylar (Since they were likely talking about her relationship with Vi or the plan as well) but Vi hasn't had her own chapter for so long I felt like keeping one POV would be enough. It also got me able to have her and Rhino actually have a nice, long conversation for once, which is something I didn't get the chance to do in the other story these characters come from, unfortunately, which is a shame since those two are close friends. Plus, talking chapters make me have to think about how frequently I'm using a certain verb, which is HARD.
> 
> Next Chapter will be the heist we're all waiting for! Lucky for y'all I've decided to not go for the much darker route I considered going down originally since it'd jack up some plans of mine! This chapter will be set in one POV, too, and as expected it won't be Amber or Vi's this time.


	14. XIII - The Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watch as I both somehow manage to write a Heist movie and a Soap Opera into one chapter!

The new moon made the already cloudy sky dark as night fell, making it painfully easy for Meredith and Rhino to sneak back up to the gardens once the time came. Meredith kept her gaze fixed on the hole in the garden wall, knowing very well that if she looked behind her she’d end up snickering at how annoyed Rhino looked in the dress she was being forced to wear for this, which would likely earn her an icy glare she’d already gotten at least ten times prior.

The two slip into the garden without much trouble, Vi having not lied about there being no guard presence in the area as they begin to stalk toward the castle, though Meredith halts at the door.

“Okay, from this point onward, we stay _quiet,_ ” she starts.

“We’ve been quiet this entire time!”

“Well, now you’re not, with how _loudly_ you just said that! Shh!”

The glare that Rhino gives Meredith for that makes Meredith have to slap a hand over her mouth to keep herself from giggling, and she waits a moment before speaking again to calm down.

“Thanks to that dress, you can walk out in the open on our way to the king’s chambers, I obviously cannot,” she continues. “I’ll keep to the shadows, you follow me, and if _anyone_ asks you what you’re doing simply say that you’re new and that you’re lost, okay?”

“Right,” Rhino nods. “Let’s just get this over with, the sooner I’m out of this damn dress the sooner I can actually have fun.”

Meredith makes a muffled noise that sounds faintly like a snort of amusement in response before she turns, slowly opening the castle doors, carefully poking her head inside the gap she makes once it’s big enough to make sure there aren’t any guards patrolling. She sees one _just_ turn down the hall corner they’re on and enter another one, to her relief, but no other guard was in sight, and she quickly slips inside, hearing Rhino follow and shut the door behind them as they immediately head upstairs.

“He’s on the second floor?” Rhino whispers as Meredith makes a right turn, the thief beginning to press against the wall as she crept nearer and nearer to the chamber entrance. “I assumed he’d be up on a higher floor.”

“Isaiah’s room was on the higher floor, the same room as Lorelei’s, two floors above Amber’s,” Meredith explains lowly. “But Joseph had a second King’s chambers built into the second floor, likely because he’d be closer to the dungeons and torture chambers since he’s a sick fuck, but I like to think it’s also because he’s secretly afraid of heights.”

That, Meredith notices, makes Rhino nearly smile. She’d managed to get small smiles from the blonde before, and getting an actual genuine grin from Rhino had become a goal of her’s. However, to her disdain, that wasn’t the main focus at the moment.

They reach the corner before the hallway leading up to the door to the King’s chambers, and Meredith stops there, fingertips brushing the wall as she slowly inhales and exhales.

“Right,” the thief whispers, turning to nod at Rhino. “You know what to do?”

Rhino barely keeps herself from snorting. “Of course I do,” she nods back, taking a short breath as she readies herself. “The room next to us, right?” she adds, her gaze flitting toward the door only a few feet away, which led into a guest room if the map Meredith used was correct.

“Mhm,” Meredith nods. “I know I said I’d follow you when you brought the knight’s in but I think I’ll wait in there, that way it’ll be even more of a shock to them when you turn on them.”

“Right,” Rhino nods, the assassin’s fingers twitching as if clutching a dagger already, though Meredith knew well enough how fast one could appear despite her appearing as if she had none.

With one last final nod, Meredith slinks off into the guest room, turning her head to watch Rhino pull on a mock expression of terror before she turns and bolts down the hall toward where Meredith assumes the guards would be waiting. She shuts the door behind her quietly before bracing her back against the wall.

_‘If I’m right, they’ll rush in too fast to check the walls,’_ she thinks, keeping herself pressed up flush to the white-painted surface. She keeps her breaths even, slowly moving her hands from the wall for a moment to pull a long, jagged blade from the sheath on her belt, matching that one with another in her opposite hand. She blows a strand of dark hair from her face as she presses back against the wall, her brows furrowing and gaze hardening as she hears panicked voices outside the room, a crooked smirk beginning to write it’s way onto her lips.

The door suddenly flies open, barely being held back from slamming into Meredith’s face by one of the guards who, Meredith assumed, weren’t too keen on waking up the king with slamming doors.

Two guards, clearly having not been prepared as their helmets were missing, burst into the room, swords out as they look around the room warily, taking careful steps forward. Rhino follows them in, kicking one door shut as Meredith pushes the other one shut from where she stands.

“Alright, thief, we know you’re in here, make it easy for all of us and come out and surrender and maybe you’ll end up in the dungeons in one piece, though with how late it is I reckon you might be missing...a few pieces,” one threatens in a thick accent, Meredith can’t quite discern what it might be, nor does she really care. Her gaze fixates on Rhino as the blonde suddenly chuckles sinisterly.

“I’m afraid neither of you are going to get that pleasure,” she murmurs, just as one knight whirls around in confusion, opening his mouth as if to ask Rhino what she had said, though he doesn’t get a chance, as a flash of silver appears in Rhino’s hands as he turns, and, so fast Meredith nearly doesn’t catch it, she slashes out with such precision the guard doesn’t even get a chance to try and block, not that it would have done anything.

The guard’s eyes widen, lips parting and closing like a fish out of water as blood begins to spill from a neat slice right over his jugular. The most he makes is a gurgle before his legs buckle and he collapses, his partner starting and yelling out, turning to face Rhino, though before he can do anything Meredith launches herself at him, taking the guard by surprise as she sends them both tumbling across the floor, the metal armour the knight was wearing scratching sharply against the floor as Meredith’s hands close around his throat. The guard’s eyes bulge as he stares at Meredith, mouth opening and closing as he desperately attempts to breathe, however, the pressure Meredith has on his throat keeps him from achieving breath, and she scowls.

“I don’t have the patience for this,” she utters, and with a sharp twist of her hands, a sharp _crack!_ rings out in the air as she snaps the guard’s neck, ending his life much faster as he slumps, any movement he had been attempting to make dying immediately.

Meredith lets out a huff as she slowly gets back to her feet, turning to look back at Rhino, who was giving her an impressed look.

“Nice,” she comments, eyeing the dead guard below her. “I expected you to make it way messier.”

“Eh,” Meredith mutters, glancing at the large pool of blood forming around the guard Rhino stood near. “I think you got that honour.”

“Fair,” Rhino snorts at that, eyeing the guard’s bloodied form before she looks down at herself disdainfully. “But now,” she starts, moving her hands behind her. “I get to take this stupid fucking dress off.”

There’s a ripping noise before the dress falls to the floor after Rhino cuts the sleeves as well as the back. The dress falls to reveal the normal set of gear Rhino wore normally, and the blonde sheathes the blade she’d used to kill the guard and free herself into a sheath on her belt.

It makes Meredith laugh a little. “Oh, come on, it couldn’t have been _that_ bad,” she starts, though the glare Rhino gives her makes her mouth snap shut for once, a muffled snicker leaving her lips. 

“Come on,” the assassin utters after a moment, nodding to Meredith before they head toward the doors. “We need to get this done,” she adds, giving Meredith a pointed look before she opens the door, exiting the room without a glance back. Meredith glances down at the two bodies for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly, her lip curling as she turns and exits the guest room, shutting the door behind her.

_‘Let’s just hope nobody is going to need anything from that room for a good while.’_

They head into the king’s chambers silently after that, Meredith narrowing her eyes once she notices no guard in the area they had entered, though she knows there’s bound to be at least one around, so she continues to tread lightly, turning to glance at Rhino.

“Keep an eye out for me, the king’s room is right there,” she starts, the blonde nodding before she turns, pressing her back against the wall as she turns her head to keep an eye on the hallway they stood in. Meredith mouths a “thank you” before sneaking up to the door to the king’s room, taking one more glance around the hall before she experimentally jiggles the handle, sighing once she realises that it was locked.

Rhino turns to furrow her brows, parting her lips as if to inquire what they should do, when Meredith shoves her hand into her jacket, rifling around the contents she’d hidden inside with a scowl on her lips before pulling out a small pouch, upon opening it moments later revealing it to be a pouch full of lockpicks.

The almost amused snort that leaves Rhino’s lips in response makes Meredith smirk, and she slowly slips the pick into the door’s lock, brows furrowing as she listens closely for any clicks.

It takes a few tries, admittedly, though after a few moments of twiddling the lock makes a loud clicking noise as it unlocks, and Meredith beams, a cocky grin appearing on her face as she looks over toward Rhino, who meets her gaze with a roll of her green eyes.

She shuts the bag now, shoving it back into her jacket, before she gently twists the metal handle, moving painfully slowly just to make sure the door wouldn’t creak as it opened. It takes some time, and Meredith finds herself biting her lower lip to suppress a soft chuckle as she catches Rhino grumbling softly, impatiently complaining. Once the door was open wide enough, Meredith looks back to nod toward Rhino before slipping into the room without a sound.

The room was large, certainly bigger than Amber’s, with expensive-looking art pieces strung up along the walls alongside swords and shield plaques. The sight alone makes Meredith’s fingers twitch, and she swallows back the desire to attempt to steal some of the painted canvases, the amount of coin it could possibly rend her being a hard thing to pass over. She sighs, however, and presses onward, knowing the key in the room she stood in was much more important at the moment.

Avoiding the king’s sleeping form and his bed entirely despite the urge to slip over and simply stab him then and there, Meredith slinks over to the large desk situated against the furthest wall from the door, only having to take a moment to look over the top of it before spotting a single brass key resting on a bare piece of parchment. She quickly scans over the table carefully more time before reaching over slowly, keeping an eye on the sleeping king as her gloved fingers wrap around the cool metal. With increased speed, she brings her hand back to herself, swiftly pocketing the key as she smirks slightly, internally praising herself as she begins to creep back toward the door, reaching halfway across the room before she freezes suddenly, hearing a thud outside the room, followed by what sounds like a muffled yell.

Losing her cool immediately, the idea of Rhino possibly having been the one yelling out causing her to panic a little, Meredith stumbles forward, nearly tripping over her own feet as she races for the door, flinging it open wide enough so it wouldn’t slam, but so Meredith could leave the room with enough room to possibly throw herself at whatever guard might be in the room.

What she finds, however, is a guard lying on the floor, his helmet a few feet away from him lying sideways. Rhino isn’t anywhere to be seen, and as Meredith creeps forward to inspect the still knight, she looks down, noticing that she’d stepped in a slowly growing pool of blood. A glance up toward the knight’s head reveals a long, nasty-looking jagged tear in his throat, and Meredith notices that the knight wasn’t breathing, which, with how much blood was spilling onto the floor, wasn’t that much of a shock.

_‘So Rhino killed him, obviously, but where the hell did she go?’_ she wonders, turning to look around. If she had been hiding somewhere she’d likely have come out by now, and unless she’d been severely injured fighting the guard at Meredith’s feet she wouldn’t have had a reason to flee, so the girl’s absence utterly flummoxed Meredith, wondering if she’d simply gone down the hall to go look around for more guards. Turning to go down the hall, Meredith freezes only a few steps in, hearing a few footsteps before a familiar head of white hair enters the hall she’s in. 

Rhino’s wiping her hands on the wall dismissively, likely wiping blood off her hands, Meredith assumes, and she looks up at Meredith, blinking for a moment before she chuckles softly.

“You look frenzied,” she comments, smirking. “What’s wrong? Did he scare you? I thought you could handle things like this,” she adds, nodding toward the body now behind Meredith as the thief immediately scowls.

“I _can_ handle things like that,” she retorts. “I was just...worried is all.”

“Worried? Rhino repeats, tilting her head as one of her brows raise. “About me?”

“Don’t act so shocked, you’re my friend,” Meredith snorts, huffing. She looks to the side, avoiding Rhino’s curious gaze as she crosses her arms. “You weren’t here when I came out of the room, I just got concerned is all.”

“Dumbass,” Rhino sighs out softly, moving closer as she reaches over to push Meredith’s shoulder playfully with her hand. “I just went to see if any other guards were around in here, which there was, but he’s the same as his friend here is now,” she explains, as Meredith looks back over at her, having jolted a bit from the push. “Have a little more faith in me.”

“I have _plenty_ of faith in you, asshole,” Meredith responds, though she’s grinning now, her tone playful as she regards Rhino with a regained twinkle to her grey-blue eyes, the awkward, tension-filled haze between the two of them having faded. “I _did_ let you come with me, after all.”

That makes Rhino snort. “Please, as if you ever had a choice in that matter,” she smirks, nodding toward the fallen guard once more. “Besides, I think my presence as made things...much easier, haven’t they?”

That makes Meredith pout a little. “I could have handled those guards fine on my own,” she attempts to argue, but Rhino’s snicker silences her as expression turns into an affronted one.

“Sure you could have, blue,” the blonde teases, a playful glint in her green eyes. “And if we keep standing her arguing you might get to prove that, so perhaps you should go get that book like we came here for, I assume you have the key, right?”

With a roll of her eyes, Meredith’s hand dives into one of her pockets and produces the brass key she’d taken from the king’s room, holding it betwixt two of her fingers. “ _No,_ I just went into the king’s room for shits and giggles, of course I have the damn thing.”

“No need to be smart with me,” Rhino rolls her eyes as well, moving to the side so she could push Meredith further down the hall. “I think the room we’re looking for is...beside the dead guard when you turn down that corner, he looked like he was guarding something. It lines up with the map too if I remember right.”

“Mhm,” Meredith nods, snorting as Rhino pushes her again before she heads down the hall, hardly sparing a second glance at the second dead guard that lay next to the door they were headed for. Despite knowing it wouldn’t open without the key, she tries it anyway, just in case, not being shocked in the slightest when the door doesn’t budge.

Pressing her ear to the door just in case anyone happened to be inside, Meredith slowly slips the key into the lock and twists, brows furrowing slightly as she hears Rhino shuffle around to pull one of her daggers out just in case someone crept up on them. The door clicks and unlocks, and Meredith pushes the door open quietly slipping into the room as Rhino follows her.

The room is small, a bit bigger than a walk-in closet maybe, enough space for one desk and one shelf and that was it. Various likely prized possessions of the king’s rest on the shelf, though Meredith ignores them as she creeps forward, spotting their target almost immediately. A thin, slightly aged book rests on the desk, a quill left in an inkwell next to it. There’s no label on the front, but as Meredith lifts it up and thumbs through the pages she gets all the information she needs, it’s the financial records book.

Shoving it into her jacket, Meredith turns, noticing Rhino looking around the shelf curiously.

“Jesus, you could buy your own castle with all of this,” Meredith hears the blonde murmur as she lifts a solid bar of gold to inspect it. “No wonder he hides it all in here, though you’d think he’d put this in a safe.”

“Please,” Meredith snorts, wandering over. “The castle already has a huge safe somewhere in the castle, this shit is all probably his stuff he doesn’t trust to put in there, the fact that he doesn’t have his _own_ safe is surprising, though with how much of an idiot Joseph is I’m not all that shocked.”

That makes Rhino smirk slightly, and she swiftly reaches over and dips her hand into an open box on the shelf, pulling out a few crystal or gold necklaces. “Then, if he’s that stupid, I don’t think he’ll mind if I…” she looks over at Meredith with that same smirk as she pockets the necklaces. “Borrow some of it.”

Meredith chuckles, meeting Rhino’s gaze evenly. “We need to go before some guards find their buddies out there, come on,” she shakes her head before turning toward the door. “If you want fancy jewellery that bad I can just steal you some from some duchess that lives in town sometime.”

A moment later Rhino is following her once more, a snicker leaving the slightly shorter girl’s lips. “If I can sell it to buy some nicer weapons, I’ll take it.”

“A woman after my own heart, we truly do make the best team,” Meredith sighs dramatically as they enter the hall, beginning to head toward the door. “You should join the guild so we can do this more often.”

“As if I’d even need to join your guild for you to come begging for my help again, cute excuse though.”

Meredith scowls. “And suddenly I’m grateful you and I will have to shut up in a moment,” she huffs with a roll of her eyes as they near the doors. “You remember, right? Sneak back through where we came in from and run as if hell’s on our heels until we get back to the tavern?”

“Mhm,” Rhino nods. “Just don’t get yourself captured for me on the way, okay?”

“Now look who’s the worrier, maybe _you_ should have more faith in me.”

Rhino shoves past her at that, opening the door and leaving the chambers as she mutters “Stop talking,” loud enough for Meredith to hear. It makes the thief snicker softly as she follows Rhino out of the king’s chambers and into the hallways leading toward the staircase, her steps light as she clings to the wall, Rhino having to follow suit now due to her lacking her disguise.

They make it to the garden fairly easily, having had to spend a good minute standing deathly still in the main hall waiting for a guard to move, and they crawl out through the secret entrance, taking off in a sprint like Meredith said as soon as they both made it through the hole in the garden wall.

However, Meredith hadn’t thought of how difficult it might be sprinting in the dark night, especially with the new moon making things even darker. She hears Rhino curse loudly in pain from likely nearly twisting her ankle, seeing how the girl was still sprinting regardless, and the only light Meredith can see is the light coming from the town’s lanterns farther off. She knows they could stop sprinting now, they were out of the sighs of the guard towers by now most likely, however, she doesn’t stop, wanting to get back to the tavern as quickly as possible.

_‘It’s not worth the risk,’_ she reasons with herself. _‘I don’t even want to risk either of us getting caught, otherwise, this entire plan will fail, and I’m not getting my head lopped off yet, neither is Rhino.’_

Something, though, Meredith realises, evaded her thoughts as she had started to sprint toward the town. Something important, something that might make running the speed they were both running a little dangerous.

Before she can warn Rhino, however, she steps on air instead of ground and immediately begins to fall forward, hitting the grass with a thud as she proceeds to tumble down the steep hill the castle sat on, too stunned to yell out at first. She hears a scream as Rhino reaches the hill as well, but there’s nothing she can do about it as she tumbles over and over again until she reaches the bottom of the hill, hitting the ground with a thud that jars her shoulder and makes her groan loudly as she slowly falls flat on her back.

Another thud hits her ears a moment later as Rhino reaches the bottom of the hill as well, a loud hiss of pain leaving the blonde’s lips as she slowly begins to sit up, rubbing the back of her head reproachfully as she turns to glare at Meredith, the light from the town being close enough to them now where she could see the thief in the night.

“Next time,” she begins, rolling her shoulders, “Consider warning me about the giant fucking hill, please, I think I’m lucky I didn’t end up breaking something.”

“Hey, we survived, we’re both fine!” Meredith argues, her voice hoarse from having the wind knocked out of her. She clears her throat, groaning as her shoulder aches, and silently tries to bet in her head how many bruises she’ll have by the morning.

“Fuck, my shoulders hurt,” she hears Rhino mutter, a grunt leaving her lips as she rolls them again. “I’m gonna be sore for _days._ ”

Listening to Rhino’s complaints and replaying the ridiculous circumstances of their fall in her head makes Meredith grin suddenly as she lays flat on the ground, the image of them tumbling down the hill in a bystander’s view making her giggle a little. Sure enough, however, within seconds, Meredith’s giggles slowly grow into laughs as she bursts out cackling to the point where she has to wrap her arms around her stomach to keep herself from rolling, the situation in itself too funny for her to keep it in her.

Rhino looks over at her sharply as soon as she begins to laugh, a bemused look on her face as she regards Meredith’s laughing form. Meredith isn’t even looking at her anymore, her eyes screwed shut, tears beginning to spill from them from laughing so hard as a hand leaves her belly to cover her face as her body shakes from laughter.

After a few long moments, Meredith pauses, eyes opening as a new sound suddenly hits her ears. It’s foreign yet familiar, and despite not seeing the source it already makes a smile grow on Meredith’s lips, now void of laughter as she turns her head, her hand moving to rest on the ground.

Rhino was laughing, genuinely, too, the blonde sitting hunched over herself as she shook slightly, her lips curled in a grin that’s so genuine it only makes Meredith’s own grow as Rhino throws her head back, looking up into the sky with a loud exhale of breath. She seems to finally notice Meredith staring after a bit, light giggles still leaving her lips as she tilts her head toward Meredith, almost looking sheepish.

“What?” Rhino manages to breathe out, unable to control her giggles, her green eyes glistening a little as she stares at Meredith, who couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Your laugh,” she breathes, her gaze softening as an almost bashful smile appears on her face. “It’s...really pretty, you should do it more.”

The compliment makes Rhino pause, her giggles finally ceasing as she blinks, absorbing what Meredith had said and processing it slowly. It takes a moment, but, to Meredith’s pleasure, that same genuine smile writes it’s way onto Rhino’s lips once more as she shyly beams at her.

“Thanks-”

“That,” she points over at Rhino, who blinks, her smile beginning to fade as her head tilts. “No, no, bring it back, your smile, I’ve never seen you do it genuinely before, just...smirks or...small little slightly amused ones, I...really like your smile.”

Meredith can’t see Rhino’s face darken a little despite the dim light flickering over them, but something about Rhino’s mannerisms gives her a hint enough, and the blonde’s smile reappears as Meredith warmly smiles back. 

“As I was saying before you decided to get all sappy on me,” Rhino starts, though as Meredith opens her mouth to retort Rhino reaches over to press her thumb to the thief’s lips, silencing her, giving her a knowing look. “Thank you, and- _wait,_ ” she pauses as Meredith’s fingers wrap around her wrist. “Wait, I also wanted to say that I...like your smile and laugh too.”

It takes Meredith a moment to respond, her heart hammering in her chest in a way she’s not all that familiar with. It’d only happened once before, and that hadn’t ended well on her end, and it makes Meredith swallow a lump in her throat slowly, though as Rhino continues to look at her, she can’t help but not feel too bothered by the feeling, accepting of it, even.

“Well, uh,” Meredith chuckles, trying to not seem as awkward as she felt. “Thanks, Rhi.”

“Anytime, Mer,” Rhino says, with an amount of warmth she hadn’t ever heard from the other girl before. This time, Meredith feels her face darken, and she looks away just in case Rhino could see.

They stay silent for a minute, in their own heads. Meredith looking up at the stars as her stomach fills with butterflies, and it takes everything in her to keep herself from saying anything that might make the tension between them grow, though Rhino beginning to stand up after the minute ends helps, the blonde stretching, then wincing, before she turns around, holding out her hand for Meredith to grab.

“Come on,” she says, offering her a lopsided smile. “Let’s get out of here before some guards find us being sappy, you can’t be all mushy toward me when you’re getting your head cut off.”

“Not with that attitude I can’t,” Meredith retorts with a smirk, winking as she accepts Rhino’s offered hand, and once she’s pulled up she stretches as well, sighing as she feels her back pop.

Rhino rolls her eyes in amusement, beginning to head toward the town entrance. “We’re both going to have to bathe, the hill wasn’t exactly dry, I forgot it rained earlier today,” she starts, gesturing to their muddy clothes. Meredith looks down at herself, noticing streaks of mud and grass stains on her skin and clothes, and she sighs softly.

“The bathhouse is close to the tavern, but…” she chuckles, smirking slightly in a smug manner. “Going this late might not be a great option, people love to sneak in there and have affairs in the quiet.”

“So like the bathhouses back home, then,” Rhino responds with a scowl. “Wonderful. Normally I’d just wait until tomorrow but I have mud in my hair, and I’m not letting this shit dry out, if anyone’s in there they can get out or I’ll simply,” her fingers travel to one of the sheaths on her belt. “Persuade them to.”

Meredith considers this. Logically, they shouldn’t do this, it could be a risk if someone notices them with the book, however, she couldn’t help but agree with Rhino, they were both dirty, and neither of them smelled that great, as much as Meredith hated to admit it.

_‘I can just wrap the book in my jacket and lay it next to the bath and keep an eye on it- wait...actually…’_

“Hey, Rhi?” Meredith stops as Rhino continues on. They were at the tavern now, the bathhouse being a few buildings ahead. 

Rhino turns, her head tilting a little. “Yeah, Mer?”

“I’m gonna drop the book off and grab something before I head over, okay? I’ll meet you at the bathhouse, I just want to get something so I thought I’d drop the book off when I did.”

Rhino nods. “Go ahead, I’ll go in and make sure any...stragglers aren’t in there for you,” she responds with a smirk. “Don’t take too long, else I’ll get in without you.”

“Got it,” Meredith winks, running into the tavern as Rhino heads further down the path. There are a few people inside still, though the tavern was likely closed at this point. Some men Meredith recognises from gambling wave at her, and Meredith responds with a half-assed wave and a brisk nod.

Skylar is at the bar when Meredith reaches it, and the shorter girl looks up, grinning as Meredith pushes her way behind the bar to head to her room, immediately following her.

“Did you get it?” she asks, gasping softly when Meredith responds by pulling the book out of her jacket and holding it up as they head down the hall. “You did! Good job, Mer!”

Meredith nods, chuckling softly as she enters her room and tosses the book onto one of the crates in the room. “Yeah, I’m pretty proud of myself, pretty proud of Rhi, too, she probably ended up saving my skin by killing those guards before they could spot us.”

“Thank God she was there, the- wait,” Skylar pauses, brows furrowing. “Where is Rhino? Did she head back already?”

“Nah, she’s at the bathhouse, I’m about to head over too, I don’t exactly look super clean, don’t I?” Meredith responds with a snort, turning to face Skylar.

The barkeep begins to chuckle softly, reaching up to brush her thumb over Meredith’s cheek. “You have mud on your face.”

“Hence why I’m going to the bathhouse,” Meredith laughs, taking most of her weapons off and throwing them aside. Rhino had enough for both of them, most likely. “Which reminds me,” she adds, grabbing a pouch from the belt she’d just thrown to the side. “How much for a bottle of rum?”

“A bottle of-” Skylar pauses, brows furrowing. “Meredith, don’t tell me you’re trying to-”

“I’m not trying to do anything! Am I not allowed to celebrate with my...best...friend?”

Skylar raises her eyebrows at that. “Is something going on between you two?”

“What?!” Meredith nearly drops the pouch in surprise from the question, her face growing way too warm for her own comfort, especially since she didn’t normally get like this. Skylar knew that, too, judging by the look on her face.

“Wow, it took a week for you to-”

“Skylar, I’m going to ask you nicely to shut your mouth,” Meredith interrupts, trying to keep her expression neutral. “Nothing is happening, I just want to drink and celebrate the fact that we’ve officially got the key to kick Joseph out of this kingdom, there is _nothing_ else about it.”

Skylar still doesn’t look too convinced, but she doesn’t say much else. “Whatever, fine, just give me the pouch and I’ll take the amount for it out and give it back to you with the rum, don’t get too shitfaced, okay? I don’t want you drowning in the bathhouse because you both passed out.”

Meredith nods, tossing the pouch over to Skylar, who nods and leaves the room to grab the bottle. Once she leaves, Meredith groans loudly and takes a moment to breathe and run a hand through her hair, pressing her palms to her face when she finishes. Her face is warm to the touch, and it only makes Meredith want to shove her face into cold water.

“You’re fine, Meredith, you’re fine, nothing is wrong, you’ll be fine, just keep cool like you always do,” she murmurs to herself, taking a deep breath before exhaling slowly.

_‘Jesus, was I like this around Amber? She didn’t make me act like this, did she? I don’t usually get red in the face like this, it’s usually the other way around.’_ she thinks, biting her lip from nerves. ‘I mean, it’s not like I don’t like it, but- wait, no, no it’s been a goddamn week, Mer, slow down!’

She steels herself slowly, shutting her eyes. “If something happens tonight,” she whispers. “I refuse to make it like every other interaction with a girl I’ve had, I’m not letting this just be another hit and run, I just wish I was more...experienced with feeling like this,” she adds softly, smiling slightly. “But...I guess like with Amber I’m not against feeling it.”

She forces herself to begin walking so she could exit the room and head into the bar, knowing she was already likely leaving Rhino hanging at the bathhouse. Upon reaching the bar, her confidence regained with every step she took, she takes the rum and her pouch of coin from Skylar as she passes her, waving goodbye. 

“Don’t get yourself in trouble,” Skylar warns as she watches her leave, leaning against the bar. “I mean it, Meredith, I’m not getting you out of anything this time.”

Meredith snorts, taking a moment to glance at Skylar over her shoulder. “I’ll try my hardest,” she responds with a wink. 

Once she leaves the tavern, Meredith jogs over to the bathhouse, noticing Rhino had likely gone inside in favour of waiting outside for her. She enters slowly, keeping an eye out for anyone who wasn’t her friend, though she spots nobody as she moves further into the room, finally noticing Rhino kneeling beside the water, eyeing it curiously.

“It’s warm,” she comments, not even turning to look at Meredith. “I’m assuming there’s a spell put on this pool of water then? Unless there are hot coals involved, but I doubt that.”

“You’re right, a mage around here has this thing enchanted to stay warm,” Meredith responds, dropping into a crouch beside the blonde. She reaches out a hand to trace her fingers on the water’s surface, feeling the warm water soak through the soft material of her gloves.

“That’s cool,” Rhino murmurs, beginning to sit back so she could take off her jacket. “I’ll have you know I didn’t find anyone in here, thankfully, seems like we got a break.”

“You might just be lucky, last time I tried bathing here late like this I came in to find the baker that used to live down the street with some woman that _definitely_ wasn’t his wife,” Meredith responds with a chuckle, unbuttoning her jacket slowly. “The plus side of it was that they paid me to keep my mouth shut, the downside was that I had to see more of that baker than I ever wanted to.”

“Did you keep your mouth shut, though?” Rhino asks, raising a brow as she drops her jacket on the ground, moving to take off her boots. The question makes Meredith snort.

“Of course I didn’t, I told his wife as soon as I saw her next, I’m not a cunt, that asshole deserved to get caught,” she answers, kicking off her boots and working on the tie on her trousers. “I will say, watching his ass get kicked was quite the sight, there’s a reason I said he _used_ to live down the street.”

“Oh? Did he...die?”

“Pff, no, he just had to move to another city in Aetheria because nobody wanted him around anymore, his ex-wife runs the bakery now.”

“Good for her,” Rhino nods in approval, pulling off her shirt with little hesitation, though as she drops the linen shirt on top of her trousers and jacket she looks over to eye Meredith with a slight smirk. “Hope you’re keeping your eyes to yourself.”

“If you haven’t noticed,” Meredith huffs, halfway through taking off her shirt, her arms stuck as she attempts to pull the cloth off her head. “I’m a bit too occupied to look.”

A small spurt of laughter leaves Rhino as she undoes the roll cloth around her chest before reaching over to help. Meredith feels the blonde’s hands curl around the shirt near her head as she lifts the neck of the shirt off enough for Meredith’s face to be exposed, her arms still caught in her sleeves.

“Need any more help, dumbass?” Rhino teases, slightly leaning over the taller girl. “I wonder how good a thief you really are when a shirt is capable of defeating you, it seems.”

Meredith blinks, her face reddening with embarrassment before she notices how close they were. It makes her breath in through her nose sharply, forcing herself to keep her eyes trained on Rhino’s face.

_‘She’s fucking with me, there is NO way she’d do this on accident, no fucking way.’_

Taking a deep breath, Meredith pulls a smirk to try and hide her initial reaction, chuckling softly as her eyes stay locked onto Rhino’s own. “Well,” she whispers, purposefully making her voice husky. “It’s kind of hard for me to focus right on what I’m doing when you’re right there.”

Rhino blinks at that, her lips parting for a moment as if she were going to respond, though if she was going to say anything it dies on her tongue, and Meredith’s smirk grows as the other woman’s face begins to darken.

“I- Jesus, let me just, god you’re-” Rhino shakes her head, though as she reaches up to pull the rest of the shirt off she looks back down at Meredith, their eyes locking again.

The tension hits Meredith like a slap to the face this time, and she unconsciously wets her lower lip with the tip of her tongue as she regards Rhino with a look of mock innocence. She doesn’t mean to speak, however without thinking she murmurs. “Well?” with an air of smugness that makes Rhino scowl.

“God, fuck you’re so insufferable,” Rhino mutters, “Tilt your head up.”

“Fine, fine, hold on- OW!” Meredith yelps, as Rhino had tugged on the shirt again sharply as soon as Meredith had tilted her head, the maneuver jarring her sore shoulder. As Rhino drops the shirt to her side, sitting back on her heels, Meredith sits up, rubbing her shoulder with a huff.

“Thanks, next time warn me before you try to dislocate my shoulder again,” she grumbles, cursing to herself as she undoes the wrappings around her chest afterwards.

“Quit being such a baby,” Rhino snickers, clearly trying to push away the tension as she moves to slip into the pool. 

“I’ll stop when I get enough alcohol in my system to forget how sore my shoulder is,” Meredith grunts in response to that, slowly moving into the water as well to sit beside Rhino, sighing out happily as the warm liquid hits her skin.

“You brought alcohol?” Rhino looks over with raised eyebrows, craning her neck to look over Meredith’s shoulders. The interested look that appears in her green eyes only a moment later as she spots the bottle of rum makes Meredith snicker as she turns to grab it, popping the cork off with a flick of her thumb.

“Mhm, but with you being a bit mean to be earlier I ain’t so sure I want to share it with you,” she jokes, taking a large swig. Rhino narrows her eyes and immediately reaches over to attempt to grab it, making Meredith snicker and hold the bottle away from her.

“Mer.”

“Apologise for jarring my shoulder and calling me a baby and I _might_ let you have a sip.”

“Meredith.”

“Come onnnn,” Meredith snickers, a shit-eating grin on her face as she looks over at Rhino, who was glaring daggers into her. “You can do ittt~”

“I’m not apologising, give me the damn rum.”

“No.”

“I will get out of this goddamn bath and walk to the tavern in nothing but my jacket and get my own bottle if you don’t-” she reaches over, however, Meredith quickly scoots away, snickering. “Give it here!”

“ _Hell_ no, you’ll just put it on my tab and it’s long enough, just apologise, you dolt!”

“Christ almighty, _fine!_ I’m sorry that you’re an insufferable prick, now give me the goddamn rum!”

“Close enough,” Meredith laughs, shaking her head as she finally hands the bottle over, Rhino snatching it with a huff.

“Asshole,” she huffs, taking a sip while lifting her hand out of the water to flip Meredith off, causing the taller girl to burst into a fit of giggles as she moves out into the deeper parts of the pool to finally start cleaning herself off, sinking underwater for a moment to get at the mud on her face.

Once she reemerges, Rhino hands the bottle back over before following suit. While Meredith waits for her to come back over she takes a few more long sips of the drink in her hand, smiling at the taste. Rhino comes back over moments later, combing her fingers through her long hair with a grunt, cursing as she catches her fingers in any tangles.

Sure enough, as the bottle’s contents begin to grow more and more slim, Meredith begins to feel tipsy, giggling softly as she sinks down to her chin in the water. Rhino seemed to be in the same boat, and once they finally finish off the large bottle the blonde’s face finds itself pressed into Meredith’s collarbone as she tries to stifle her giggles.

Meredith wraps an arm around Rhino’s waist as she lets the empty bottle float in the pool, watching it with a faint grin. She jumps a little as Rhino begins to speak, slurred mumbles leaving her lips as they brush against Meredith’s skin, though she can’t really make it out.

“Say that again?” she starts, as Rhino slowly begins to tilt her head so her ear was pressed against Meredith’s sternum. “Can’t exactly hear you when your mouth is flush against me, double entendre not meant but _absolutely_ intended.”

“I said,” Rhino mumbles, reaching up to clumsily swat the side of Meredith’s head. “The king’s gonna be...so mad when he finds out what we did.”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Meredith smirks. “His fault for being such a goddamn idiot though.”

“Yeah…” Rhino mumbles in response, slowly pushing herself off Meredith, only to lean against her gently. “We make a good team.”

“Fuck yeah we do,” Meredith nods, her hand travelling up to gently run it’s fingers through Rhino’s hair. “Which is whyyy I said we should do this more often earlier.”

“Mm, maybe we can find a small kingdom and like,” Rhino sniggers softly. “Take out both a king and queen and then...take over the kingdom for ourselves.”

“Pretty funny way of asking me to be the queen to your queen, Rhi,” Meredith responds smoothly with a sly smirk, side-eyeing the blonde, or, well, trying to, her eyes weren’t really in focus right now.

Rhino giggles at that instead of responding with a roll of her eyes like a sober Rhino might. “Maybe I am, s’not like we wouldn’t make a good duo.”

“Kinda like how forward drunk Rhino is,” Meredith chuckles, despite being drunk herself. “S’cute.”

“Mm, I’m not cute,” Rhino argues, tilting her head up to look at Meredith. “Neither are you.”

“Rude,” Meredith huffs, though she gasps softly as she feels Rhino wrap an arm around her shoulders to hoist herself up, the blonde quickly brushing her lips against the side of Meredith’s head. 

“I- wha-”

“You have a cut on the side of your head,” Rhino mumbles slurredly. “Dunno why it ain’t bleeding, though.”

“Prolly cos’ it’s been a while since I got it, Rhi,” Meredith mutters, snorting when Rhino goes “Ohhhh” quietly near her ear. “I think you’re drunker than me.”

“Shut it,” Rhino responds, moving her free arm so she could make Meredith face her, her hand pressed firmly on the thief’s cheek. “And as I was saying, you’re not cute...you’re...attractive…but you’re also an idiot so I guess...you’re also kinda cute, so maybe I’m wrong.”

“I think you can be both cute and attractive at the same time, but I’ll take the compliment, you’re attractive too,” Meredith smiles, watching Rhino smile back, a lopsided, clumsy grin, but a smile nonetheless.

“Mm, you know, I should thank you,” Rhino hums, her hand still pressed against Meredith’s face as she keeps her eyes on her. “You know, my job coulda been so much more boring, kidnapping the princess and all, this was wayyy more fun.”

“I think kicking the king’s ass out of this castle would always be way more fun than kidnapping my best friend, but I might be a bit biased,” Meredith giggles, as Rhino snorts.

“You woulda been so angry, thank God I didn’t do that, though you’re kinda cute when you’re angry so maybe…”

“Don’t go kidnapping Amber or I’ll have to hurt that pretty face of yours,” Meredith cuts in with a laugh, feeling Rhino’s forehead press against hers as the blonde begins to giggle.

“Not you _and_ Vi, come on, that ain’t fair!”

“Well it won’t happen now, you know that,” Meredith shakes her head a little, meeting Rhino’s unfocused green gaze. “I won’t let you get your ass kicked as long as you stay on our side, promise.”

“Then I gotta thank you again,” Rhino responds in a low murmur, and though Meredith parts her lips to protest she shuts them quickly after, noticing the mischievous glint that appears in Rhino’s gaze as she regards her.

“I’m guessing, and I’m drunk as all hell, so don’t quote me on it, that you...don’t plan on a verbal thank you?”

“Mm,” Rhino shakes her head, and once her gaze moves downward a familiar feeling whelms its way into Meredith’s gut. “Maybe so.”

“Well, I’m not that opposed, go ahead-” Meredith gasps a bit as Rhino leans forward and presses her lips quickly against the corner of her mouth, a clearly teasing gesture that makes her heart hammer in her chest, and a wobbly, half-hearted smirk makes its way onto Meredith’s lips as she tries to think of a response.

“Oh, come on, you tea-”

“Oh, shut up for one second, Mer,” Rhino grumbles, the hand that had been around her shoulders moving up to fist itself in the short hair on the back of Meredith’s head before pulling her closer roughly, her lips moving so she could plant them clumsily on Meredith’s own.

Though she doesn’t protest, her eyes widen in surprise, giving Rhino all the time she needs to roughly nip at her lower lip, knocking Meredith back into focus as she moves to press her lips back against Rhino’s, nearly slipping from how clumsily she’d moved closer. She lets Rhino attempt to deepen the kiss more, though not without feeling, to her surprise, anxiety begin to well in her gut, nerves, something she’d never felt before when doing something like this. She tastes like rum, Meredith notices, though, to be fair she probably does too, they did down an entire bottle of it.

Once they finally pull away for air after a while, breathing heavily, Meredith’s tempted to pull Rhino back in, to possibly even become the people she’d made fun of earlier for being caught in the bathhouse at this late, and it, in Meredith’s eyes, looked like Rhino had that idea as well, with the way she was looking at her. However, something holds her back, something she’d told herself only an hour or so prior.

_‘I’m not letting this just be another hit and run.’_

_‘We’re both drunk, if we do this...this could ruin everything if she thinks it’s just a one-night stand, this isn’t-’_

“Wait,” Meredith blurts, right as Rhino had begun to lean back in. “Wait, we should- we should slow down a little.”

Rhino immediately halts, pulling back with wide eyes. “Huh? Is...something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s just-” Meredith frowns, trying to find the words to say, worried they wouldn’t come out right with how drunk she was. “I don’t- I don’t want this to just be a one-night stand, Rhi.”

Rhino’s lips purse at that, and Meredith hates how she immediately seems to deflate a little. 

“Oh,” the blonde starts, making Meredith’s heart clench. “Oh, I- I don’t-”

“Look, I- I like you, a lot, but maybe we should talk about this when we...aren’t drunk.”

“I- yeah,” Rhino nods, looking almost crestfallen as she glances away for a moment, looking so uncharacteristically bashful suddenly. “I- I like you too, I mean, I just-”

“I know,” Meredith smiles sadly, feeling way too sober for the amount of alcohol she’d had. “You don’t know how to handle it either, don’t you?”

Rhino just barely nods, as if she doesn’t want to admit it. “I think- I think I just need some...time, is all, to process all this, I’m sorry,” she sighs, looking up at Meredith almost as if she were expecting a negative response.

“Me too, honestly, is- is that okay?”

Rhino sighs again, a half-hearted smile appearing on her face. “Yeah, we’ll...figure it out, just...not tonight, when we’re both drunk off our asses, kay?”

“Cool,” Meredith nods, though she awkwardly leans over to hug the blonde, feeling like she had to supply some comfort after seeing her look so crestfallen earlier. “We’ve got this, we stole from a king, right? We can handle this.”

Rhino stiffens for a moment, though she does hug Meredith back after a moment, her voice cracking a little as she finally responds. “Y-Yeah, we got this, course we do.”

Moving back, Meredith offers Rhino a small smile, one she returns quickly, and they both get out of the water, going to put their clothes on before heading back, Meredith twirling the empty rum bottle in her fingers as they head to the tavern first.

Once they get there, Rhino looks off toward the distance, awkwardly shuffling her feet. 

“I...should get going, then, I’ll meet you by the hill tomorrow m-”

“Wait!” Meredith interrupts, grabbing Rhino’s hand despite the nerves that shoot through her, making her sink her teeth into her lip for a moment as Rhino turns to look back at her. “We’re both- I mean I know the alcohol could be wearing off but we’re both drunk, I can’t let you go off...fuck this, I’m not letting you go sleep out in that camp you have in the woodlands, I know you’re not sleeping at the inn like you keep telling me.”

Rhino’s brows furrow. “You...you followed me?”

“No, I asked the innkeeper a couple nights ago if you were there so I could drop off that knife you left at the tavern, remember? She said you didn’t even have a room there, so I decided to guess.”

“You’re a good guesser for someone who’s drunk,” Rhino comments, though she sighs in defeat. “Fine, you got me, but- I shouldn’t stay here, we just made it clear we weren’t-”

“I promise you nothing will happen tonight, I just...I don’t want you sleeping out there, okay? With the guards being out there and all, and wolves, I-”

“You care too much for someone who claims to be a badass, you know,” Rhino shakes her head, though she can’t help but smile. “I really like that about you.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what badasses do, care about their friends,” Meredith smirks, though she hates how wrong the word “friends” feels, especially when she made it clear they needed to take time on this. “Now, get in here, before I pick you up and carry you in.”

“As if you could,” Rhino rolls her eyes before she pushes herself past Meredith and into the tavern, Meredith following after she shuts and locks the doors.

They head into the back room, and though both of them express apprehension over sleeping in the same bed they both decide that sleeping on the floor would just result in more discomfort most likely. As Rhino finishes taking off her boots and belt, laying them beside the bed, Meredith finishes rustling around in the box of objects she’d obtained over the years, mostly things she’d stolen. Finding what she was looking for, she turns, swallowing slowly as she locks her gaze onto Rhino.

_‘I should wait until we...if we become a thing, this seems a bit forward...but...even if we don’t...I want her to have something to remember us as friends by, at least, she doesn’t even have to wear it if she doesn’t want to.’_

“Hey, Rhi?”

Rhino looks over, brows furrowing when she notices Meredith’s hands behind her back. “Yes, Mer?”

“I...uhh, I wanted to give you this a while ago, originally it was what I planned to be a thank you to you since you...decided to come with me and risk your neck for me like you did.”

Rhino tilts her head. “Oh? Well, Meredith, I came because I wanted to get this king sacked as much as you did, you don’t need to thank me, but...I appreciate it regardless.”

“But...still! I...wanted to give this to you,” Meredith takes a deep breath before thrusting her arms forward to reveal a silver necklace, a pendant with a red gemstone in the centre dangling at the bottom of the chain. “You can obviously sell it or whatever, it’s probably worth a decent amount of coin, I stole it off a duchess a long time ago and never found a use for it, but...I never wanted to sell it for some reason, guess I know why now.”

Rhino blinks at the necklace for a long moment, clearly debating whether to take it or not. It makes Meredith regret the gesture immediately, wishing she’d just thanked her. What if this was too forward? What if Rhino got uncomfortable and decided to leave? Meredith didn’t want that at all, and she almost pulls her arms back to her chest when Rhino reaches over and takes the necklace from her.

“It’s...beautiful, Meredith, thank you,” she murmurs, gazing down at the gemstone, her thumb running over it’s smooth surface. She looks up at Meredith and seems to notice how nervous she looks, because she smiles reassuringly. “I really do love it.”

“You do? That’s great, I knew you would,” Meredith chuckles awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand as she tries to pretend to be confident, something Rhino likely easily sees through. “But...that’s all I wanted to do, we should probably sleep, Skylar’s gonna wake us up early tomorrow anyway, and God knows we don’t need to be falling asleep standing up when we head back to the castle tomorrow.”

Rhino nods as she moves to set the necklace down with her belt, jacket, and boots. “Agreed, and it’s...been a long night anyway, I need to sleep and,” she smiles awkwardly at Meredith. “Think.”

As Meredith settles on the left side of the bed, Rhino settles on the right. The single brush of skin against skin on accident as they attempt to fall asleep makes them both stiffen, though there’s not much they can do with how small the bed was, not that there was much Meredith found herself wanting to do. A small part of her urged to move closer, though she knew it wasn’t right, not yet, not until they were both ready.

And, until that time came, for that final decision to be made, she would wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.
> 
> It's been a while.
> 
> I'm REALLY sorry about how long this took me to write, I had half of the chapter done and suddenly finals hit me like a goddamn truck. That adding onto me nearly failing a few classes and me getting hit with an AWFUL wave of depression that lasted for a good two weeks along with my writer's block made writing impossible, I roleplay for a past time and I was even finding that hard to do. Another rough part was that this chapter, had it not included the final part with Rhino and Meredith in the town, would have been WAY too short for my liking. So I had to take a few more days to write an extra part.
> 
> One thing, though, I promise y'all, is that this story will be done before July 4th. That's my deadline, and I will meet it, though to be honest, we only have a few more chapters left to this story! I know, sad, but after this there's one more small arc that should be handled in maybe....3-4 chapters tops. I reckon there might be 5-6 more chapters? Maybe. But I HAVE to get it done before July 4th since this entire story is a birthday present for a friend of mine. So it will be done, writer's block be damned. 
> 
> As for the story though...
> 
> Fun fact, I was originally planning for Rhino and Meredith to get together in the background, or for them to get together here, but I just...I dunno, that doesn't seem right? See, neither of them know how to handle love that well, they're both a bit bad at it, so they're going to take some time but I promise you, you WILL get to see them get together, it won't be some background thing. I know this is technically a spoiler but y'all know I wouldn't put a pairing in and leave it dangling. Plus, it's fun to see them be awkward, these two normally stoic, cool women who don't let their emotions get to them, you know? It's cute.
> 
> As for the next chapter, it PROBABLY will be short, I apologise, but you'll FINALLY see the king get the end he deserves and the new arc will be revealed, our girls aren't out of the water yet, unfortunately, as a new danger is about to loom over them, something a little too close to certain character's homes.


	15. XIV - The Second Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four WLW Attempt To Take Down The Heterosexual Patriarchy, face Trouble Along the Way.

Being woken up at dawn despite a restless night of hardly any sleep felt like hell to Amber, who really just wanted a few more hours to sleep at most, despite knowing she had to be up by now anyways today. She just wished it had been Vi who had woken her, not someone’s fist pounding on her door.

She ignores it the first time, grumbling softly as she looks up blearily for a moment before shoving her face back into Vi’s chest with a huff. The second time it happens, however, it wakes Vi up, who groans as she turns her head toward the door.

“Who the fuck is knocking at this hour?” the knight complains, rubbing her eyes as Amber finally concedes and sits up, pouting. “We aren’t supposed to have to wake up in uh…” she looks toward the clock in Amber’s room. “Two hours.”

“Well, whoever it is better have something important to tell me, get ready to hide if they try coming in,” Amber sighs in response, moving to get on her feet as she slides off the bed. Once she’s standing she stretches slowly, yawning, before she heads over to the door, opening it enough so that she could poke her head through the gap.

“How can I _possibly_ help you at this hour?” she starts, a dangerous smile stretching across her face. Her tone would be a clear sign for the person to back off alone, however, the person who knocked didn’t even blink as he looked down at her, his expression rather emotionless.

“Your father sent me,” he explains, and as soon as Amber gets a good look at him her face pales. This was her father’s advisor. “Urgent news, I’m afraid.”

_‘Oh fuck, please don’t tell me they caught Mer and Rhino, please, I can’t get them out of the dungeons that easily.’_

Pulling on a straight face, Amber blinks up innocently at the advisor. “What news?”

“Your father’s chambers got robbed by thieves last night,” the advisor responds simply. “Some...important items were stolen and four guards were killed, and because of that your father has decided it be best you stay put in the castle until we find the thieves who did this, for your own good.”

It takes everything within Amber not to scoff. _‘Please, as if he has my best interests at heart, he probably thinks I had something to do with it somehow.’_ Though she pretends to obediently nod in response to the advisor, she knew how to sneak out anyways if anything happened.

“Good, then that’s all I need to inform you of, I’ll be on my way, you keep an eye out, God knows these...thieves might be lurking about still,” the advisor grumbles, looking around as if expecting someone to jump out from a corner before he turns to leave. Amber watches him leave with narrowed eyes, and once he rounds the corner she finally shuts her door, shuddering a little.

The king’s advisor, Arelen, had always given her the creeps. He was scarily tall, as most elves were, the advisor being a High Elf to be specific, if Amber remembered right, the pale, wheat-yellow colour of his skin being a clear indicator. It was odd for him to work so close with Joseph, really, considering Amber knew for a fact that Joseph had a heavy disdain for any non-human race, and it always made her wonder how well those two actually worked together.

_‘He probably just keeps him around since he can use magic, I bet they both secretly despise one another, either way, they’re both bastards.’_ she thinks with a sound of faint amusement, turning to glance over at Vi, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and wiping her eyes.

“Who was it?” the knight adds drowsily, a big yawn following her question as she stretches. “Anyone of interest?”

“No, just Arelen telling me I’m not to leave the castle today, looks like Meredith and Rhino were successful.”

Vi’s eye brightens at that, a grin spreading across her lips as she seems to wake up immediately. “Really? That’s great! We’ve won!”

A matching grin appears on Amber’s face, and as Vi gets to her feet to walk over to Amber, cupping her face as she leans down to press her forehead around the princess’ own, she lifts her hands up to gently wrap her fingers around Vi’s wrists.

“And that means,” Vi starts, lifting her head a little to press her lips gently against Amber’s forehead before pressing their foreheads back together once more. “You’re finally free.”

“No more betrothals with selfish pricks,” Amber continues with an emotional look in her blue eyes as they lock onto Vi’s eye. “Just you and me, _and_ we can be open in public about it, too.”

“That’s good, because I’m _totally_ gonna brag about you.”

“Viiiii.”

“What? And waste the opportunity to brag about my perfect girlfriend and about all the perfect things she does? Absolutely not.”

“You do that enough with me already, don’t go bothering people just because you wanna brag, as flattering as that is,” Amber shakes her head with a chuckle, moving onto the tips of her toes so she could give the taller woman a quick peck on the lips. “But before you try to argue,” she quickly adds, moving one hand up to press a finger to Vi’s parting lips. “Let me remind you that we have two hours before anything happens, and I don’t know about you, but I want-”

“To take a nice hot bath?” Vi guesses, smirking as Amber’s brows furrow, having clearly intended on saying that. “I know you better than you think, babe.”

Amber rolls her eyes. “Or you just have some power to read minds you haven’t told me about,” she huffs, an amused grin appearing on her lips. “But...yes, I’d like one, there’s not much else we can do after all, other than wait for the other two to get here.”

“Mm, true,” Vi nods, reluctantly moving back to head toward the door, Amber turning to watch her. “I’ll go get someone to fetch water for it, then, though,” Vi pauses, turning to look at Amber with a slight smirk. “If you want to, we can get into the water currently in the bath, and make it hot ourselves,” she adds with a wink.

Amber groans. “That was horrible.”

“Admittedly, not my best work,” Vi admits with a shrug, sighing dramatically. “But the offer still sta-”

“Just go get the water and I _might_ consider it,” Amber rolls her eyes, rubbing her temples. “Else we won’t have time for a bath at all.”

“Fine, fine,” Vi snorts, sticking her tongue out playfully as she leaves the room, leaving Amber to her thoughts.

Thoughts of which were all perfectly clean and were not considering the option Vi gave her regarding the bath at all, she swears.

\--------------------

The two hours pass way too slowly, in Amber’s opinion. They still had plenty of time after their bath to mill about, so Amber eventually decided to draw whilst Vi polished her armour to burn up time. Once Vi had finished, she had put on her armour, and she was now sitting on the bed next to Amber, not leaning on her since the weight of her armour likely wouldn’t make that comfortable.

Five past twelve is when Meredith and Rhino arrive, five minutes late, the two, like last time, climbing in using Amber’s balcony. Meredith waves as soon as her eyes settle on Amber, though as Rhino brushes past her to enter the room, Amber notices the thief visibly jolt a little, the corners of her lips curling upward a bit awkwardly. She decides not to question it though, feeling as if it wasn’t much of her business.

“Do you have it?” Vi starts, getting to her feet as she heads over to the two, smiling at Rhino and nodding in greeting as Meredith nods.

“Mhm, right here, hold on,” Meredith responds quickly, slipping a hand into her jacket, fumbling around for a moment before she pulls out a thin book with a dark brown cover, handing it to Vi. “Wasn’t that hard to steal, not that that’s a surprise to anyone here.”

“Yeah, I even stole a few things from him myself, got a mighty nice gold bar back in my jacket pocket, a few necklaces too,” Rhino snickers beside Meredith, tilting her head to flash the thief a knowing smirk that falters, and Amber _swears_ she sees a flicker of bashfulness run through the blonde’s expression before she looks away.

“Good, now all we need to do is give this to the queen and let her handle this,” Vi nods, glancing over at Amber. “Anything else?”

“Not really, I know my mother enough, once she gets this we just need to sit back and watch her explode, you and I can be with her, you two,” Amber nods toward Meredith and Rhino, “Stay here at first, just in case.”

“Fine,” Meredith nods. “But! I want to be in the room if and when she executes the bastard.”

Amber rolls her eyes in amusement. “I’ll make sure you have front row seats.”

“Nice.”

Rhino snorts. “We’ll be here if anything happens, go get this shit over with so we can go celebrate at the tavern or something, I haven’t gotten to eat yet today.”

“‘Cause she woke up right before we left,” Meredith snickers, earning a swat from Rhino on the shoulder. 

“You did too, dumbass.”

“Yeah, because we-” Meredith pauses, shutting her mouth abruptly as if saying something she didn’t want to admit, her face blanching. “Because we stayed up too late, heist and all that, adrenaline didn’t wear off for a while.”

“Right…” Amber furrows her brows in slight confusion, however, she doesn’t pry, deciding to leave that be. They had much more important things to worry about. “Anyways, Vi and I’ll be going now, we’ll call you both in if we need you.”

“Good luck,” Rhino nods. “Kick his ass if you can.”

“We’ll try,” Vi smirks, turning to follow Amber as she turns to leave the room. Once the door is shut behind them, they head toward the stairs, though as they walk Amber nudges Vi in the side a bit.

“Hm? What’s up?” Vi asks, having jumped a bit when Amber nudged her. “Something on your mind?”

“Nothing much, just...hoping this goes down well, you know?” Amber starts with a sigh, grabbing the railing as they turn to head up the first flight of stairs. “I guess I’m just thinking of all the ways this could go wrong, you know?”

“Well, don’t,” Vi shrugs, pausing to rest a hand on Amber’s shoulder, which makes her halt as well. “Look, we have the upper hand, we have proof, your mother would be braindead not to listen to us now, we’ve _got this,_ Amb, I know we do, we’ve been through hell before, we can get through one last hurdle, and I’ll be with you the entire way.”

The reassuring words make Amber smile as she regards Vi, her expression loving and warm, something she reserved only for the knight. “Thank you, that helped,” she murmurs, inhaling and exhaling slowly. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Vi smiles just as warmly, leaning down to kiss Amber chastely. “Now let’s finish this.”

Nodding, Amber continues on, leading Vi up one more flight of stairs before taking a right turn, heading toward the doors leading to her mother’s chambers. Two guards stand at the double doors, though they don’t say a word as Amber and Vi approach them, simply nodding and moving aside to let the two pass.

Once in front of the doors leading to Lorelei’s room, Amber finds Vi’s hand and grips it tightly for a moment, meeting her gaze for a few seconds before they nod to one another, and Amber finally knocks on the door.

It takes a few moments, but the door slowly opens as Lorelei appears, looking tired as she regards Amber, then Vi blearily for a moment, blinking.

“Girls?” she breathes, her brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s brought you two up here? Surely you know the news-”

“Is Joseph in there, mom?” Amber interrupts quickly, her gaze serious, something that seems to confuse Lorelei even more. “It’s important.”

“Er...no, he’s a bit busy trying to deal with the thieves that came in last night, told me that some of his prized possessions were taken, why?”

“Well, it’s about that, mom, can we come in?” Amber states, smiling awkwardly, as Vi holds out the book for Lorelei to take, the queen eyeing it with a confused look on her face. “You’re going to want to be sitting down for this.”

Lorelei takes the book before she moves back to let Amber and Vi in, Vi kicking the door shut behind her as she enters behind Amber. The queen finds a seat on the edge of her bed and carefully examines the thin book. “And...what is this? What’s going on, you two?”

Amber takes a deep breath, going to grab a chair for herself, taking a desk chair nearby while Vi grabs the stool in front of the vanity. Once they’re both sitting down, Amber quickly begins to explain everything, going into detail on their plan to steal the financial book as well as explaining how they’d figured out why they’d need to get the book in the first place. She hesitantly mentions Meredith and Rhino, but she knows her mother wouldn’t backstab her, so she feels like it’s safe when she carefully mentions them having been the thieves.

Lorelei sits and listens quietly throughout the entire explanation, her eyes going from being fixated on Amber as she spoke to growing distant, as if she had been hit over the head with something heavy. Her lips part once Amber finishes explaining, however she doesn’t say a word, simply opening the book and looking inside it.

Amber’s lips press into a fine line, and she turns to look up at Vi, who meets her gaze with a weak smile, reaching over to grasp her hand and hold it tightly as they wait for Lorelei to respond. After what feels like hours, the queen finally shuts the book, taking a deep breath before she looks back up at both women.

“I am going…” she breathes. “To _kill_ him.”

“Yeah, that’s a valid reaction,” Amber sighs, smiling weakly at her mother. “I know this must be hard to take in, all of this, but-”

“No, no, I’m taking it in easier than you’d think,” Lorelei chuckles dryly, her dark blue eyes devoid of much emotion as she looks up. Her face, lined with age from stress and hardship suffered in the past, seems sunken in almost, tired, her lips curled downward as she lifts her hands up to press her face into her palms, taking a slow, deep breath. “I hate to say I saw this coming, our marriage has never been exactly love-filled, it’s rare we get along,” she admits with a tired, almost defeated sigh, running a hand through blonde hair with wisps of grey hairs streaked within. “I just expected an affair, not...this.”

“Part of me wishes it was an affair, honestly,” Vi mutters, and Amber turns to give her a sharp glare. “What?! It would have been easier to get proof of that than this!”

“Not the point,” Amber rolls her eyes, glancing back at her mother. “Look, mom, _you’re_ the one with all the power here, not him, he just thinks he has power because he’s king, when our family are the true holders of the throne, and once people find out he lied just to keep himself in power, nobody will want him around.”

Lorelei nods, her gaze hardening as she clasps her hands together on her lap in a tight grip. “Right, and I won’t be letting him sit on his throne any longer, I should have kicked him out years ago,” she shakes her head, a sigh leaving her lips. “I just wish I hadn’t been so gullible.”

“We’re just glad you’re finally seeing the truth, mom,” Amber smiles slightly, reaching over to pat Lorelei’s knee gently. Lorelei looks up at that, nodding.

“Thanks to you, Vi, Meredith, and this...newcomer friend of yours, Rhino, I might have never found out, so thank you, both of you, and-”

“You can thank Meredith and Rhino later, trust me, they’ll be around,” Amber chuckles, shaking her head. “What we need to do now is get Joseph’s ass out of here, or,” she smirks slightly. “Preferably, get his ass kicked to the gallows, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“Oh, he won’t be leaving this kingdom in one piece,” Lorelei chuckles darkly, shaking her head. “He’s betrayed me and I know he’s been unfairly punishing our people as well, he won’t be leaving with his head on his shoulders.”

The grin that appears on Vi’s lips nearly makes Amber snort in amusement despite the morbid topic. “Good, I know a few people who might be excited to see that,” she comments, making Lorelei huff softly in amusement.

“Of course you do, I think I can name at least one of them,” she mutters, rolling her eyes as she chuckles. “But as for your- Joseph, he’s in the throne room ordering guards to check everywhere to find clues or any sign of the thieves whereabouts, we should find him there,” she states, growing serious once more as she slowly rises, regaining the powerful stance Amber had remembered her mother having as a child, the way she held herself almost intimidating even to her. She fixes a less stoic look on Amber and Vi once she turns her head to regard them, offering them a slight upturn of the corners of her lips. “Shall we?”

“Hell yeah,” Amber says, in perfect unison with Vi, who looks over at Amber in surprise before they both burst into giggles, slowly getting to their feet.

The trek to the throne room takes the trio down three flights of stairs and has them going straight down one corridor before they enter. Nobody gives them any trouble, most simply curtsying or nodding their heads in respect as they pass by, and Amber and Vi watch Lorelei as she silently walks up to the large doors that lead into the throne room, clasps her hands over the handles, and throw open the two doors with a sense of purpose that makes Amber shudder with anticipation, finally getting the end she’d wanted for years.

Joseph is busy talking to Arelan when they arrive, leaning lazily in his throne despite how angry he still looked. The high elf is simply nodding as he speaks, his eyes shut as if trying to block him out, though when Lorelei enters his yellow-green eyes lock onto the trio, his head tilting almost comically at them as Lorelei strides in with Amber and Vi following.

Joseph looks up as soon as the doors open, his thick brow furrowing as he regards the three, and he moves into a more serious position in the throne, regarding each newcomer with equal disdain. 

“Is there a reason you all are bothering me right now? I have possessions I need to reacquire, and thieves who’s necks I need wrung,” he starts, seemingly already dismissing them, though with a snap of her fingers Joseph jumps, and two guards on standby in the room look up immediately.

“Guards,” Lorelei growls, pointing right at Joseph. “I want him bound and thrown in the dungeons, I will not have _traitors_ in my castle,” she adds in a hiss, as Joseph’s jaw drops in surprise.

“T- Traitors?! What is the meaning of this, Lorelei?” he starts, quickly forcing down the angry tone he had at the beginning for a tone that sounded more bemused, clearly trying to act innocent. “I’ve done nothing of the sort, it’s the thieves we’re worrying about, remember?”

“Oh, I know, because thanks to those same thieves I’ve gotten my hands on _this!_ ” Lorelei snaps, lifting the book, which she had been holding on the way here, up so that Joseph could get a good look at it. As soon as he recognises it, Amber watches his face pale, his lips pulling into a fine line.

“Lorelei,” he begins, his tone now growing nervous as he begins to stand. “Listen to me, whatever you read in there could all simply be forgery, don’t believe something that was in the hands of petty thieves-”

“Those _petty thieves_ worked with my daughter, I’d trust them with my life,” Lorelei snorts, throwing the book aside. “You lied to me all this time, let me believe that you were the only thing keeping the economy as high as it’s been, but I’m not letting this charade flourish anymore, you’re going down to the dungeons and I’ll have your _head_ in a basket by tomorrow’s sunrise!”

As she’d been saying this, Lorelei had moved closer, which, with how angry she was, had scared Joseph into reeling back into his throne slightly, his brown eyes wide with fear, something that made Amber grin.

“Lorelei, please, I’m sorry-”

“You’re only apologising because you got caught,” Lorelei sneers, nodding to the guards standing by, who begin to walk over. “As I said, guards, take him to the dungeons, go ahead and make him feel just like the people he’s thrown in there for the past years, I’m sure he’d love a taste of that.”

Joseph looks up, fear still laced in his eyes as he wildly looks between the guards, Lorelei, Amber, Vi, and the exit, and he suddenly turns to look at Arelan, who meets his gaze with a tilt of his head that Amber just barely notices, a flicker of a question appearing in the elf’s eyes for a split second, something that turns her blood to ice. 

“Mom,” she warns, beginning to back up. Vi must have noticed it too, she realises, as the knight draws her sword beside her and immediately begins to move in front of her.

“Not now, Amber,” Lorelei responds without looking at Amber, just as Joseph makes the slightest of nods toward Arelan, who nods once more and begins to raise his hand. All Amber has to see is a flicker of blue magic begin to form in his hand before she moves without thinking.

She knows she hears Vi cry out her name as she shoves past her, and she feels Vi attempt to reach forward and grab at her dress to pull her back, but Amber wrenches herself free just in time to throw herself toward her mother and send them both toppling to the other side of the throne room just as a massive wave of blue magic fires right through where they just had been moments prior, barely missing Vi as she leaps out of the way, rolling to the opposite side of the throne room as a massive explosion rings out, making Amber’s ears ring and her vision grow doubled as she watches the centre of the throne room get torn apart.

\----------------------------------------------------

They had barely spoken a word since Amber and Vi had left, and it was beginning to drive Meredith insane.

Rhino was using the two’s absence to her advantage, lounging on Amber’s bed while she balanced one of her daggers on her fingers. Meredith was lounging back in Amber’s desk chair, lazily tapping her fingers on the wooden desk as she attempted to think of more questions.

She’d gone through all the basics, favourite colour, favourite book, favourite weapon, she’d even asked Rhino for her birthday despite already knowing it, which, in hindsight, probably seemed a bit insensitive.

_‘She probably thinks I’m too careless to remember birthdays now, damn it!’_ she curses herself in her head, slamming her fist on the desk, which makes Rhino glance up for a moment.

“You okay?”

Meredith jolts, immediately rubbing the nape of her neck with her free hand awkwardly as she chuckles. “Yeah, fine, just uhh…” she attempts to think of an excuse that won’t reward her with a look with raised eyebrows. “Thinking about how satisfying it’ll be to see Joseph’s head lopped off, the image in my head’s uh...real nice.”

Rhino tilts her head a little, though she chuckles and nods after a moment, to Meredith’s relief. “Oh, yeah, now that I’m thinking about it, that is a nice image, huh,” she remarks, offering Meredith a slight smile. “It’s a real pick-me-up.”

“Yeah, it sure is,” Meredith nods, chuckling awkwardly, though her laughter and smile fade quickly once she realises that, once again, one of their miniscule conversations was over.

Dwelling back into her thoughts, Meredith wishes she wasn’t so awkward around Rhino, but with how much she _knew_ she liked her but was too scared to properly admit it out of some internal fear of her screwing something up, she couldn’t help it.

_‘We’ll talk about it when we’re both ready, despite how ready I feel already, though even I think I still need some time to think.’_

“Hey, Mer?”

Rhino’s voice startles her out of her thoughts, and she looks up sharply, eyes widening a little bit as her lips part.

“Yeah?”

Rhino sits up slowly, before looking Meredith in the eyes from where she was at on the bed. “Listen, I…” she frowns. “I know you’re just trying to talk to me, I’m not trying to be a dick and seem like I’m pushing you away, I’m just…”

“Still thinking?”

“...yeah, still thinking, but it’s not just you, it’s...about the future too.”

“The future?”

Rhino looks up, and Meredith finds herself not liking how worried the look on her face is. 

“Because, I know you all think that once Joseph is gone everything will all be better, but there’s still-”

Meredith doesn’t catch the rest of what Rhino says, however, as just when she says it a huge explosion rings out, so close it shakes the castle a little despite it being made of stone. The proximity of it and how it sounded like it was in the castle itself make Meredith shoot out of her chair, eyes wide.

Rhino was scrambling off the bed and to her feet as Meredith shot up, and she grabs her knife by the hilt as she moves over to Meredith’s side. 

“What the fuck was that?!”

“I dunno,” Meredith starts, eyeing the door as she begins to hear footsteps and screams in the distance, still in the castle. “But whatever it is, I think it might have something to do with our friends,” she finishes, the two of them giving each other a single glance and a nod before they both sprint over to the door, shoving it open before they sprint down the hall toward the stairs.

It doesn’t take them long to find the scene of the explosion, the fleeing staff and guards running toward it help them enough, and Meredith shoves one knight out of the way as she speeds toward the throne room, reaching behind her for the crossbow that she’d hooked on her back this morning.

“I knew I’d need this damn thing today, I just knew it,” she mutters to herself, hearing Rhino’s footsteps behind her as she hastily loads a bolt into the weapon before shoving her way into the corridor the guards were gathering by, turning once before she screeches to a halt, her jaw dropping.

The doors to the throne room had been completely blown off their hinges and were lying broken on the floor in front, and the floor leading into the room looked as if a tornado had run through it. Meredith can hear yelling coming from the room, though she’s kept from moving as Rhino halts beside her, stiffening.

“What the- what the hell happened here?!” she gasps, turning toward one of the closer guards, who was peering into the hall as well. “What the fuck happened?!”

The guard looks up and, likely from panic, seems to not notice that neither Meredith nor Rhino looked like castle staff. 

“That high elf that works as His Majesty’s advisor just...went berserk!” he answers, his voice wavering with how panicked he clearly was. “The princess’ guard is trying to fight him off but no guard has managed to get in to help without being blown into the wall!”

“Fuck,” Meredith mutters, drawing out the ‘F’ as she notices the yelling get louder, recognising Vi’s voice. “God _damn_ it, I should have known the king might pull something if he knew he was in danger of getting sacked! We should have followed them!”

“No time to worry about that now, our friends need help, come-” Rhino interjects, only to get interrupted when a shiny silver blur comes flying out of the open gap that used to be the doorway to the throne room, hitting the wall with a clang of metal against stone before they fall and hit the ground with a thud. They rise slowly, and Meredith notices a familiar head of long black hair when they do, and she nearly yells out when another shape enters the hall.

A tall man with golden skin and long, nearly white hair flies over as if floating off the ground and with a flick of his hand makes the person in armour, Vi, rise in the air as if she were being grabbed by the throat, judging by how she had begun to writhe about and open and close her mouth as if desperate for air. It makes Meredith nearly panic, but she knows that she isn’t about to let her friend die, so, ignoring Rhino’s yells for her to wait, she sprints forward, knowing that, if anything, she had to be a distraction, anything to make him lose focus.

“HEY, ASSHOLE, GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GODDAMN FRIEND BEFORE I BLOW THEM OFF!”

Aiming her crossbow, Meredith raises her weapon just as the elf turns to look at her, immediately dropping Vi, who gasps out for breath, wheezing as she looks over, her eyes widening at Meredith, who prepares to fire, not noticing the elf flick his wrist, a ball of blue magic in his outstretched palm.

When Meredith finally sees the wave of blue magic rush toward her, she expects to be burnt to a crisp, and she shuts her eyes as she’s hit, not expecting to, instead of feeling burning pain, feel like she was suddenly being thrown backwards as if she were a pebble in a slingshot. Time seems to slow down, and suddenly Meredith realises that she’d dropped her crossbow from the force and that she was also in the air being flung back way too fast for her liking, the walls rushing past her as she, too late, realises that she had to hit something soon. Expecting to hit a stone wall and to have her spine or skull crack, she regrets not getting to talk to Rhino about their feelings properly, though accepts whatever’s to come, whether it be death or endless pain.

When she, instead, hits something that feels like glass as it shatters around her, she thinks she might have hit a window at first until she also hears wood splinter, and she realises that, in her luck, she’d hit a display case or a cabinet instead of a wall. It still hurt like hell, her back felt like she’d been thrown into a tree, but miraculously, she didn’t feel a bone in her body snap, just felt multiple pieces of glass slash at her exposed skin on her hands and face as the cabinet crumbled into itself, and she crumples into a heap on the floor, slightly leaning her on the cabinet left standing. Glass had cut into the crown of her head, she assumes, because blood flows into her eyes, blinding her, though with how dizzy she felt and how badly her head was pounding she doubted she’d be conscious for much longer anyway.

She hears a scream and footsteps, the ground near her shaking a bit as someone crouches in front of her, warm hands cupping her face, one moving up to wipe some of the blood from her eyes so Meredith could finally see, though when she opens her eyes all she feels is drunk, and she’s barely able to focus on the white-blonde and golden-brown blur that made up who she assumed was Rhino. She was trying to say something, Meredith was pretty sure, though her head was pounding so badly that she couldn’t register it, and she shakily lifts an arm up to attempt to cup Rhino’s cheek gently, trying to reassure her that she was okay, that she’d be fine, though almost as soon as her hand brushes the other girl’s cheekbone she loses consciousness, and her vision goes dark.

\------------------------------------------

“Meredith, _no!_ ”

It had happened way too fast, way too fast for Rhino to even have tried to comprehend it, almost as soon as she’d yelled that out a wave of blue shot past her, and she could only watch as Meredith was thrown along with it like some ragdoll in the wind, unable to stop herself as she hurtled toward a large wooden cabinet with glass doors. A crash rings out as Meredith slams into the cabinet, the glass erupting around her as the cabinet bent and fell over, Meredith hitting the ground and crumpling immediately, her head lolled back against the cabinet. 

Rhino doesn’t partially realise that she could hear for a long moment until she finally realises that _someone was,_ and it takes her even longer to realise that she was the source, horror and panic making her lose every amount of cool she had. She runs over without thinking, not caring if the elf tried to fire something at her, if he did so be it, if he didn’t Rhino was going to beat his skull in with one of the throne room doors once she made sure Meredith wasn’t dead.

“Meredith?!” she calls out, skidding to a halt beside the thief’s limp form. “Mer? Please, please God be alive, I can’t- I can’t lose you like this,” she breathes, reaching to grab the woman’s wrist to check for a pulse when she notices Meredith’s head tilt toward her voice, and she breathes out a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank God!” she gasps, not realising that she was crying until she sits back for a moment, breathing heavily. “You goddamn _idiot,_ I- I thought you were-” she shakes her head, wiping her eyes before she reaches over. “Let me get the blood out of your eyes, come on, Mer, you’re gonna be okay.”

Wiping the blood off Meredith’s eyes as best as she could, Rhino stares into unfocused grey-blue eyes, eyes that she can tell are trying to focus on her as much as they can as Meredith’s mouth moves, slurred “I’m okays” leaving her lips, ones Rhino doesn’t even think she knows she’s saying. Rhino moves to hold Meredith’s face gently, breathing heavily still.

“You’re gonna be _fine,_ Mer, just keep breathing, it’s okay, I’m here, God I-,” she bites her lip, shaking her head. “Our last conversation is _not_ going to be a warning, god damn it! I swear to God when I get my hands on that elven piece of shit I’ll-” she pauses, feeling Meredith’s hand press against her cheek, and she looks down, seeing the ghost of a smile make its way onto the other woman’s lips, and she forces herself not to tear up again when she feels Meredith’s thumb brush across her cheekbone, not caring that the blood covering the thief’s hands was now stained on her skin.

“God, I, I lo-” Rhino pauses once more, gasping as Meredith’s hand falls and her eyes slowly shut. “No, no no, you were doing well you can’t be gone, you- you're-” Rhino looks down at the thief’s chest, breathing a sigh of relief once she notices the slightly ragged, but steady rise and fall of Meredith’s chest. “You’re okay.”

Carefully, Rhino maneuvers her hands underneath Meredith so she could slowly lift the taller girl up and out of the wrecked cabinet, hating how Meredith’s head immediately lolls backwards, her entire body limp as Rhino carried her over to the gathered knights. Her sharp green gaze, which had been moments ago warm as she’d fretted over the woman now in her arms, pierced its way through the gathered guards like a knife through hot butter, and she curls her lip into a sneer. 

“Which one of you is the fastest runner here?!” she barks out, looking at each guard in the eye as they all shuffled about nervously. “Well?! Tell me, you good-for-nothing cowards, or I’ll _make you!_ ”

After a long moment of silence and more shuffling, one guard, a lean woman in light armour steps forward, holding out her hand. “I am.”

“Good,” Rhino nods, beckoning her over with a tilt of her head. “Now, you’re going to take my friend to any person in this goddamn castle or town that knows healing magic, not someone who uses salves, someone with potions or magic, she needs care _now,_ do you understand me?”

The knight nods timidly, holding out her arms. For a moment, Rhino hesitates, almost considering doing this herself, though she knows that, if she were conscious, Meredith would want her to fight. So she carefully passes Meredith over to the knight, who holds her gently, as if Rhino had already asked her to.

Besides, she had an elf who she owed an ass-kicking to, and she wouldn’t get to do that if she was busy carrying her friend to someone that could heal her quickly.

She watches the knight head off down the hall, running as fast as she could before she disappears down the hall, and then Rhino finally turns around, her glare now fixated on the elf, who had just knocked Vi to the ground after the two had been locked in a sword duel, clearly growing tired, the blood seeping from a wound from his side likely not helping him out at all. 

Unsheathing one of her knives, Rhino begins to head toward the elf, her lips curled into an angry snarl as she picks up Meredith’s dropped crossbow, the bolt still secured inside. The elf’s back is turned as he and Vi continue to duel, and once Vi locks him into another bind Rhino begins to run, raising the hand with the knife in it high. Within moments, she’s on the both of them, and, while the elf is occupied, she swipes out a leg to trip him. She hits his right leg, causing it to buckle as she wraps one arm around the elf’s face, forcing his head back while he’s still stunned only to plunge her knife into the side of his throat, purposefully avoiding his jugular and windpipe as she rips the blade out, kicking the elf to the ground while he sputters in shock.

Vi backs up, eye wide as she looks up at Rhino, blinking. “Rhi?”

“Not now,” Rhino grunts, forcing the elf onto his back as she presses the crossbow in her other hand against his chest, her eyes boring into the elf’s face impassively.

“Perhaps I would have made this fast for you if you hadn’t nearly killed my fucking friend,” she snarls, as the elf reaches up and desperately clasps at his throat to attempt to stop the bleeding. “If you try healing yourself I’ll just cut your goddamn hands off, your tongue too if an incantation is all you need,” she adds, wrapping one finger around the trigger. “If I could launch you into a motherfucking wall, I would, but unfortunately I’ll just have to settle for this.”

Pulling the trigger, Rhino fires the single bolt directly into the high elf’s chest, his eyes widening and a sharp gasp leaving his lips as his body jolts from the impact. She hears Vi slowly get up, and looks away from the elf to meet her gaze, her expression going from unemotional to tired in seconds as she steps off the dying elf and staggers over to her friend, her grip tightening around the crossbow in her hand.

“You- where’s-”

“That bastard injured her so badly she passed out,” Rhino clenches her fists as she scowls. “One of the knights is taking her to someone who can heal her, I...I couldn’t just leave her there, that blast threw her into a glass cabinet, she could’ve-”

“No need to explain, I would’ve done the same thing,” Vi smiles weakly. “I’m lucky I had my armour and that I wasn’t thrown too far, otherwise I might be in the same boat.”

Rhino nods, sighing heavily. “Yeah, but, regardless, are you injured?”

“I have a few cuts here and there,” Vi points to a cut on her cheek, though as Rhino takes a look at it she notices that it’s rather shallow, it likely wouldn’t even scar. “My body really just aches from being thrown like that.”

“Right, good, but, wait,” Rhino turns. “Where’s the king? And Amber?”

“In the throne room, I haven’t seen him leave the throne room at all, and I don’t _think_ that there are any other exits in there, perhaps Amber and Lorelei managed to hold him off, I haven’t seen them since the first blast went off.”

“Good,” Rhino grunts, turning on her heel to head toward the throne room. “Because, after this, if I don’t see that king’s head on the floor I’m going to throw something.”

\-----------------------------------

After the initial blast, all Vi had been able to think about was ripping both the king and his advisor to shreds. She’d nearly gotten to do one of those, too, though she supposes Rhino deserved the kill more than she did after she was told what happened to Meredith.

She knew Amber was okay, having heard her yelling out in the cloud of smoke caused by the explosion, though as she and Rhino head back into the throne room she still looks for the princess just to make sure, the smoke having dissipated.

What she finds, however, is the king on the ground, propped up against the wall as Amber stands before him, the dagger Vi had gotten her long ago pressed up against his throat as Lorelei leans against a pillar nearby, breathing heavily.

“Amber?” Vi calls, eye wide as she nears the princess. “You okay? I couldn’t see you after the blast.”

“I’m fine,” Amber responds, only glancing over her shoulder once at Vi, though when she notices Rhino beside her, the princess’ brows furrow as she, Vi assumes, begins to look for Meredith. “Rhino’s here? Where’s-”

Rhino stiffens for a moment before lifting her head up, clearly not wanting to explain what happened again, though she seems to force herself to regardless. “Off getting herself healed, that advisor of his,” she nods her head toward Joseph. “Sent her flying into a glass cabinet, I had to get one of the guards to carry her off to someone who knows healing magic.”

Amber’s eyes widen at that, and Vi watches wide-eyed as the princess turns suddenly, her back facing Vi. Only seconds later, a loud shout of pain leaves Joseph’s lips, and when Amber shoves him off the wall and onto the ground despite their staggering height difference he doesn’t attempt to get up, clutching at his throat.

“You’ve made my life hell,” Amber spits, stalking over to the king, grabbing his collar, and forcing him to look up at her while she stood over him. “You made my mother’s life hell, you got my girlfriend lashed, you torture people for commiting minor crimes, and now your fucking advisor nearly got my best friend _killed,_ ” she continues, and Vi’s eye widens as Amber moves the tip of her dagger over Joseph’s jugular. “My mother was too merciful, you don’t deserve another minute of being alive, you don’t deserve to sit a night in the dungeon, and you don’t deserve the quick death a beheading would give you!” she finishes with a grunt as, with a swift movement, she plunges the dagger into Joseph’s throat. She doesn’t move for a long moment, not seeming to care as blood seeps onto her hands, before finally moving back, taking the dagger with her. Joseph gurgles, blood beginning to ooze out the wound on his throat as he attempts to gasp for breath, the rattling noise sending chills down Vi’s spine.

Leaving him to die, Amber backs up more, her steps beginning to wobble as her fingers go limp, the dagger falling onto the ground with a clatter. As soon as she begins to look like she might fall over, losing the rest of the fight in her, Vi rushes over, letting Amber lean into her front, her arms wrapping around the princess’ waist as Amber’s loosely wrap around her own.

“He’s- I, he’s-”

“He’s gone, Amb, it’s okay,” Vi murmurs softly, pressing her face into the shorter girl’s hair. “You’re okay, everything’s okay.”

“I just- I couldn’t handle it- Meredith could’ve died-”

“I know, love, I know,” Vi sighs softly, keeping a tight grip on Amber as she eyed the now twitching king, Rhino going to inspect him as they spoke. “You did perfectly, he’s dead, we’re free, you don’t have to deal with him anymore.”

“I never thought I’d ever kill anyone, have someone’s blood on my hands like this, it’s-”

“Jarring? Yeah, don’t worry, I know how that feels,” Vi feels bad for interrupting, though she wasn’t lying. “The first time I killed someone, though they definitely deserved it, I didn’t know how to feel either, it might take time for you to process it, but he deserved it and you _know_ that, Amber, just remember that,” she adds, moving her hands up to hold the princess’ face gently, frowning as she notices tears. “And you know that I will _always_ be here to talk to you if you need it, about anything, okay? I love you, and I’ll always support you,” she states, wiping at Amber’s tears with her thumb before she chuckles. “Well, unless you’re making stupid decisions, then I might not support you as much, but I think you understand.”

That makes Amber laugh a little, smiling weakly up at Vi. “Look who’s talking.”

“Hey! I’m trying to comfort you, don’t be rude!” Vi bursts out laughing regardless of that, happy to see Amber clearly cheering up. “And I do _not_ make stupid decisions.”

“Debatable,” Rhino says from a few feet away, kicking Joseph’s body with a snort. “Oh, also, he’s dead now. Good riddance.”

“Good, Vi nods, pressing a kiss to Amber’s head before the princess moves away suddenly, turning to spare a single glance at Joseph’s body before she goes over to her mother to check up on her.

“Mom?” Amber starts, tilting her head. “You’re okay, right?”

“I’m fine, just,” Lorelei shakes her head. “Exhausted and still a bit shocked, that wasn’t...nearly what I expected to happen, considering I hadn’t considered magic being apart of this at all.”

“I’m surprised that damn advisor was so willing to side with Joseph in the first place, honestly,” Vi comments with a roll of her eye. “But I suppose some people have to have allies, even if they’re insufferable.”

Amber nods. “But...we all made it out, right? And both Joseph _and_ Arelan are gone, we can focus on recovering, and then we can…” she sighs, smiling slightly. “Finally move on.”

“Indeed,” Lorelei nods, looking up and giving Joseph’s body a disdainful look. “First thing to do is get him out of here, they can throw his body to the wolves for all I care, I don’t particularly feel like sending Nirith a gift today,” she comments with a huff. “And then...tomorrow I will address the townspeople and have notices sent out to the other settlements in Aetheria, word will pass round to the other kingdoms eventually, I doubt we’ll need to help with that.”

“And!” Amber turns, smiling at Vi, who immediately grins back. “That means Vi and I can be open about our relationship, because with you in power that means no more betrothals for me!”

Lorelei nods with a faint chuckle. “Indeed, and if anyone has anything negative to say about that, they can come talk to me.”

“Or me, honestly, if you want a more...persuasive approach,” Vi offers with a gesture to her sword, which makes Amber laugh and roll her eyes, Lorelei following suit. 

“Honestly? I’m just happy that this is all over,” Amber sighs out, beaming over at her mother, and then at Vi. “That we can _finally_ take a bloody break for once.”

“Thank God,” Vi nods, turning to look over at Rhino for a moment once realising that her friend hadn’t spoken in a while, her brows furrowing at the troubled look on the blonde’s face.

“Rhi? You okay over there?” she questions, tilting her head as Amber looks over curiously. Rhino looks up, and Vi does not like how grave her expression becomes.

“Well, one, I’m thinking about how I need to go see if Meredith is okay,” she starts, before her green eyes lock onto Vi’s. “Second, I’m thinking about how ironic what you two are saying is, considering, Vi, I think we both know this isn’t over.”

Vi furrows her brow, confused. “What? What do you mean? Joseph’s dead, Rhi, we’re in the clear now-” she states, before it finally hits her. “Oh.”

“You forgot, didn’t you?” Rhino’s smile is weak, ingenuine. “We might be fine for a month or two, but you and I both know that you’re going to have to deal with your mother at some point, otherwise we could be in for war, or, if we’re lucky, just another person sent down to get the job done, but with two failures? I doubt she’ll risk another.”

Vi had forgotten, admittedly, though to be fair, she’d been so focused on taking out the king she’d completely forgotten that her mother was a threat. But the reminder makes her heart drop, and she swallows dryly, turning to look at Amber only to watch the princess’ smile fall in mere seconds as the reality set in.

They weren’t done at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the last, I know, but eighteen pages is still a lot so I count this as a win in itself.
> 
> Next chapter is going to likely be short! It's a filler chapter and it'll be a more dialogue-based planning chapter. I'm thinking Rhino and Amber will be our only POVs this time around.


	16. XV - The Solution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One WLW has a romantic crisis whilst the rest of the WLW (woolawoo) hope they don't get themselves killed while planning the most awkward family reunion ever.

“You know, I’m still upset that I didn’t get to see him get stabbed, I asked Amber specifically that I’d get to-”

“God, you know, I’m starting to prefer you unconscious.”

It’d been four days since Joseph had been killed. Aendryr had received the news three days prior, though the city was still buzzing about with news about the king’s treachery and his passing. They’d all still accepted Lorelei retaking full control of the throne, however, which meant that Aetheria was finally freed of Joseph’s unfair rule.

Meredith had been fine the evening after Joseph died when Rhino came to see her, the bits of glass that had been stuck in her skin gone and the cuts healed up. The mage that worked at the hospital here had healed her up fine, however, was making her rest for the time being, something Meredith clearly did not like.

Rhino had visited daily, usually spending most of the day by Meredith’s side unless she had anything else she could think of doing. It made for decent conversation, and, Rhino had to admit, helped make their conversations less awkward, though it did, unfortunately, make the tension between them heavier. Though they were back to having conversations that weren’t stilted or clearly one-sided, a brush of skin against skin still made Rhino’s heart hammer in her chest, something she still found herself growing apprehensive over.

She hated being so cowardly regarding her feelings, she wasn’t usually like this, normally she’d be upfront about it, but it’d been a long time since she’d had feelings like this for someone like this, and though the last time hadn’t ended horribly she wasn’t used to feeling like this, she’d spent a long time thinking that feeling this way was something that wasn’t for her, and it wasn’t that she didn’t like Meredith, she really, really did, but she was _terrified_ that she’d mess this up somehow, something so uncharacteristic to her, normally being so confident in her actions and thoughts.

Looking over at Meredith, who was busy complaining about something else, most likely, she wasn’t paying much attention, Rhino couldn’t help but smile, sighing softly.

_‘Maybe when I’m not busy worrying that this plan that Vi and Amber are trying to create is going to fail horribly and result in us possibly getting permanently separated or killed,’_ Rhino thinks with another quiet sigh, _‘I’ll sit her down and talk about this with her, because God, I really want to, I hate feeling like there’s a wall of tension separating us constantly. If I could just walk over there and kiss her I would, but God knows Meredith isn’t ready for that.’_

Sighing and shaking her head, Rhino finds her fingers wandering up to rub the red gemstone on the necklace Meredith had given her almost a week ago now, almost as if it might give her good luck. She’d not taken off the necklace since the morning after Meredith gave it to her, considering it not only a reminder of the thief but a good luck charm of sorts.

“Hey, Rhi?”

Rhino’s jolted out of her thoughts suddenly, her head raising as she turns to look over at Meredith, who was now regarding her with a slight smile. 

“Yeah?”

“You mentioned that Amber, Vi, and Lorelei were going to have an actual planning session today, right? You’re going, I assume?”

Rhino nods. “Yes to both of those questions, and you know I’ll update you on what we decide to do when I get back.”

“Actually…” Meredith starts, grinning sheepishly as she looks to the side, something that makes Rhino’s eyes narrow. “I was...wondering if I could come?”

Rhino sighs, fixing Meredith with an almost stern look in her green eyes as she shakes her head. “Mer, you need to stay here and rest-”

“The doctor said I could go today, actually,” Meredith interrupts, a proud, smug little smirk on her face, one Rhino hates to admit makes her smile a little.

_‘Damn you for being so goddamn cute,’_ she thinks, turning to look at said doctor, who was at the other side of the building writing something down in her logbook. “Is she telling me the truth?”

“Yes, she is,” the doctor confirms without even looking up from her book. “She begged me to let her go last night after you left, and though I am allowing her to leave, let it be known that she still needs to be careful for a few more days, don’t let her overexert herself, am I clear?”

Meredith rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I doubt I’ll overexert myself by standing up and talking, though, thanks,” she responds, as Rhino rolls her eyes.

“I’ll keep an eye on her, don’t worry,” she says while side-eying Meredith, who rolls her eyes.

“I’m not a child.”

“Sure about that?” Rhino challenges teasingly, smirking slightly as Meredith scowls at her.

“Positive,” she grunts, sliding off the bed she’d been resting on while she’d been staying here and gathering her things. Rhino stands as well, and as Meredith walks over, Rhino offers her a smile and pats her shoulder gently as the two head out.

“Well, regardless, I’m...glad to see you back on your feet, Mer,” Rhino states once they exit the building and begin to head to the castle, Meredith pulling her jacket and belt on as they go. “I’ve missed walking with you.”

Meredith pauses to turn and respond with a broad grin that makes Rhino immediately smile back, a grin she finds herself loving more than she cares to admit. 

“Glad to be back, Rhi.”

\--------------------------------------------------------

To say Amber was nervous right now was an understatement, she’d been nervous ever since Rhino had reminded them about Agraewyn entirely, and Vi also being visibly nervous didn’t help with that in the slightest.

They were currently in the ballroom waiting for Rhino to arrive so they could start planning. The queen had left a few moments ago to grab some more ink and quills for writing, so Amber was alone with Vi, and watching the knight lean over the large table they’d set up to hold the large map, rolls of parchment, and refreshments, she couldn’t help but frown.

For the past four days, Vi hadn’t spoken much, constantly thinking or worrying. Amber knew well enough that Vi was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to persuade her mother to lay off Aetheria, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t worried herself, however she hated seeing Vi like this, the troubled looks on her face seeming so foreign for the normally smirking or grinning knight.

With a sigh, Amber moves over, moving behind Vi so that she could wrap her arms around her waist and hug her gently from behind. Vi quickly melts into the hug with a tired sigh, lifting an arm to run her fingers through her long hair.

“Hey, you,” Amber murmurs, thankful that her girlfriend was only wearing everyday wear today, her cheek pressing into silk rather than cold steel or chain mail. “You okay?”

“Hey yourself,” Vi manages to say with a sliver of her normal cheerful tone. “I’m fine, just...tired,” she sighs, turning around so she could lean her back against the table and face Amber. “Guess I’ve been like that since we had to start thinking about all of this though, huh?”

“Yeah, but it’s understandable, love,” Amber murmurs, now leaning against Vi’s torso. “This isn’t exactly an easy thing for you to deal with, it’s your family we’re up against now.”

“Exactly,” Vi breathes with a shake of her head. “But I can’t just let the family I have _here,_ ” she looks down into Amber’s eyes. “Get hurt either.”

“There’s the sap I know and love,” Amber chuckles, pulling Vi down to kiss her chastely. She feels Vi smile against the kiss before she pulls back and flashes Amber a soft smile.

“Just because I’m worried doesn’t mean I can’t love you with all my heart,” she murmurs with a faint chuckle, winking. It makes Amber roll her eyes in amusement as she wraps her arms around her neck.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” she murmurs, shaking her head with a faint laugh. “You’re _so_ ridiculous, but it’s one of the many reasons why I love you.”

“Aww,” Vi coos, an almost bashful smile on her lips as she wraps her arms around Amber’s waist. “Look who’s being the sap now.”

“I can’t help it, you being a sap is contagious, it just makes me all sappy too,” Amber sighs dramatically, amusement glittering in her blue eyes. “But I don’t mind it.”

“Neither do I, but I might be a bit biased,” Vi laughs, with a shrug of her shoulders. “Just a bit.”

Amber smirks a little and opens her mouth to respond, though she freezes as she hears someone clear their throat, someone who wasn’t Vi by the soft gasp of surprise that leaves the knight’s lips as soon as she hears it as well.

Moving away from Vi for a moment, Amber looks around her to spot the source of the noise, a pale pink colour rising to her cheeks as she recognises her mother standing by the open doors of the ballroom, an amused look on her face as she holds a tray of food and glasses in her hands. Her advisor stands next to her, a small dark elf holding a jug of what Amber assumes is water.

“Am I interrupting something?” Lorelei starts, her brows raised as Amber’s face darkens more in embarrassment. “I can give you two a few more minutes unless you need long-”

“We’re just fine!” Amber interrupts quickly, elbowing Vi when she begins to snicker softly, covering her mouth with one hand.

“I dunno,” Vi says as she lowers her hand, way too loudly and way too cockily for Amber’s liking. “I could do with a few extra minutes, that’s all the time I ne-”

“VI!”

“I'm kidding!” Vi bursts out laughing, holding her hands in the air. “Come on, we all know with you it’d take way long-”

“Shut UP!”

“I’m going to pretend you _didn’t_ take my comment down that route,” Lorelei says as she heads over, clearly amused despite her clear attempts to hide it.

“To be fair,” Vi is still snickering, having to lean on the table with one hand as she regains her breath. “You made it way too easy.”

Placing the tray on the table, Lorelei shakes her head with a soft chuckle, regarding her daughter and Vi with a soft smile. “You two are adorable,” she comments, turning to take the jug from her advisor before asking her to wait outside for Meredith and Rhino. 

“She’s adorable, I’m tough,” Vi argues immediately, squinting down at Amber when the shorter woman begins to giggle softly. “I am!”

“You might be tough, but you sure do act adorable,” Amber smirks, looking up at Vi as the knight parts her lips to argue, however closes them after a moment of silence, pouting once she realises she either didn’t have an argument, or that she didn’t really want to argue against that.

After a moment of silence, Lorelei breaks it, pouring some water into a glass for herself. “Are we starting now or waiting for Rhino?”

“It’d probably be best to wait for Rhi,” Vi answers, “I might know my mother the best of all of us, but Rhino knows any events that happened in Agraewyn before I left, events we could use to our advantage,” she adds with a thoughtful look in her eye as she meets the queen’s gaze, though it moves to Amber once more as she sighs softly. “God, that sounds weird from me, plotting against my own mother, I mean.”

“You’re doing great, though,” Amber murmurs, leaning against Vi gently. “And I, for one, am glad you’re with us rather than on the other side.”

“Even if I was on the other side I’d just end up falling for you again, you know that.”

“Good to know that no matter what, you won’t ever be able to kill me,” Amber snickers as she glances up at the knight. “Might help me sleep at night.”

“I would hope so, the idea of hurting you makes me cringe,” Vi snorts. “But, regardless, we’ll wait for Rhino, she’d be pretty peeved if we started without her anyways.”

“In that case,” Lorelei murmurs, grabbing a chair to sit down as she takes a sip of her water. “I suppose until then we can chat, we haven’t gotten much of a chance in the past four days, have we? I’ve been...rather busy.”

“Having to watch over the rebuilding going on in the throne room and deal with the damage control isn’t something that gives you much free time, I’d assume,” Amber nods, regarding her mother with a sympathetic smile. “But, in any case, what do you want to talk about? I’m open for anything.”

“Hmm,” Lorelei hums, her gaze travelling from Amber to Vi for a moment. “I’m curious, actually, what do you both plan on doing once this is all over?” she starts, as Amber tilts her head slightly. “Of course, I mean, if something _else_ doesn’t come alone after this.”

Something Amber had noticed, interestingly enough, was that her mother had taken the sudden news that Vi was not only a citizen but the _princess_ of Agraewyn rather well. There had been some wariness, of course, some suspicious looks from time-to-time in the first two days, though after offering her the same explanation Vi had given Amber when she had found out, the looks slowly faded. It wasn’t what Amber had expected, honestly, she had expected her mother to react much more negatively, which, in her defence, as both a royal and her mother would have been understanding. Perhaps the longevity of Vi being her guard and lover had reassured her mother in a way, Amber didn’t quite know for sure. Regardless, however, she was just happy her mother wasn’t making things more difficult, things were difficult enough at the moment anyway.

It takes another moment for Amber to respond, rubbing her thumbs together in thought as she bites her lip. “Well,” she breathes out, taking a moment to glance at Vi, who blinks down at her with a slight grin. “I’m not too sure, to be quite honest. I haven’t had much time to think about it, I honestly just expected life to go to...normal I guess? Like how it was when Drake was about, just...with him gone.”

“So just everyday life, then?” Lorelei asks, her brows raising slightly. “Something...domestic?”

“Perhaps…” Amber murmurs, meeting Vi’s gaze warmly. The idea of it made her grin involuntarily. “It sounds...nice, for now, at least, I could do with a little less...excitement for a bit, if you catch my drift.”

A soft chuckle leaves Vi’s lips at that, and she nods, slinging an arm around Amber’s shoulders. “I could take a little bit of normal life for maybe a few months, yeah,” she responds. “But when we do inevitably get bored...I was thinking that we might travel a bit, maybe for a year or so, just to go and see the world, maybe find a dragon, even-”

“You have _enough_ scars already,” Amber interrupts with an amused snort. “Not that I don’t find them attractive, but I don’t think I want my girlfriend to get burned to a crisp by a dragon.”

“ _I_ was thinking we’d tame it and have a dragon to ride everywhere, but okay, fine, be a buzzkill,” Vi rolls her eye in faint amusement, clearly just being over dramatic as she shrugs with her free arm. “When other kingdoms have dragons as pets and you don’t, don’t come crawling back to me in a fuss.”

“I’m not saying having a dragon wouldn’t be interesting, I’m just saying that you should be careful rather than rush into danger, dumbass,” Amber retorts with a faint smirk, tilting her head up to stick her tongue out at Vi playfully. “You’re so reckless.”

“Yeah, well, me being reckless has led to mostly good things for me, forgive me for not worrying too much about that,” Vi argues, huffing despite the grin on her lips. “You worry too much.”

“Knowing you, I worry too little.”

“Hey!”

Lorelei rolls her eyes as Amber turns to bicker with the knight, though before she can interrupt the two of them the doors to the ballroom open once again, causing Amber to shut her mouth and turn to look toward the entrance to the room, Vi following suit.

Lorelei’s advisor leads two people in, Rhino and, to Amber’s surprise, Meredith, before turning to leave, shutting the doors behind her. Meredith isn’t even limping, the thief was just quietly chatting with Rhino about something as she headed over to the table, only pausing to look up and wave at Amber, Vi, and Lorelei after a moment.

“Hey,” Rhino starts, nodding once in acknowledgement of the people gathered around the table. “Sorry if I’m a bit late, _someone_ insisted that she had to come with me, as you can tell,” she adds, jerking her head toward Meredith for a moment, the slightly taller girl snickering softly.

“As if I’m going to miss out on helping plan something like this out,” she snorts, a cocky grin on her face. “If not that, I at least wanted to be present.”

“How are you feeling?” Amber finds herself blurting out suddenly. She hadn’t seen Meredith in days, and her worry for her friend had only been calmed at times when Rhino would tell her or Vi that she was doing alright and wasn’t still in pain. Amber hadn’t even seen what had happened to Meredith during the attack, though, from what Rhino described, she was glad to see the girl looking as she normally did, not a single new scar in sight.

“Just as good as ever,” Meredith chuckles, her grey-blue gaze snapping onto Amber, warming as soon as her eyes rest on her smaller form. “I’m sorry for worrying you if I did, I’ve apologised to Rhino more times than I can count.”

“For good reason,” Rhino mumbles, turning her head to the side as her lips pull into a tight line. “I was worried sick, you’re lucky the doctor gave you permission to leave, else I would have fought you myself to get you back into bed.”

“Never seen you worry so much over someone that wasn’t me or Max this much, Rhi,” Vi comments from beside Amber, and Amber can practically see the sly smirk spreading across the knight’s lips despite her not facing Vi. It makes Rhino stiffen slightly, her head whipping around to glare daggers into Vi’s form.

“Shut up,” Rhino growls, turning to look over at Meredith. “She nearly fucking died, Vi.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say I nearly _died,_ ” Meredith argues, shrugging. “Unless those glass shards cut deeper than I thought, though I suppose I might’ve been nearly permanently fucked in the head if I hadn’t gotten immediate medical help, maybe.”

“I don’t-” Rhino shakes her head, and Amber frowns when she barely catches the blonde mumble, “I don’t want to think about that,” in a volume that was clearly meant for herself. “Can we just get on with this, I already feel mentally exhausted and we haven’t even thought of a single thing.”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” Amber turns to see Vi frowning as well, her brows furrowed slightly in clear concern. “I didn’t mean to strike a sore spot, Rhi, we can start.”

“Right,” Rhino nods, smiling weakly when Meredith pulls her into a sideways hug, and Amber swears she notices her seem to lean into the awkward embrace, though she assumes Rhino just needed comfort if anything.

“Okay,” Vi begins, unscrewing an inkwell as she begins to speak, her fingers darting over to a quill once she sets the open bottle down. “Agraewyn is here,” she draws a circle around the name marked on the map. “Aetheria is here, and we are right...here,” she draws a circle around Aetheria’s name before putting a small star beside Aendryr. “We need to get to...here without getting too much attention from the guards,” she puts a star beside the town the kingdom in Agraewyn resided in, Ibauric. 

As Vi speaks, Amber moves away to stand beside Meredith at the other side of the table to give the knight some space, her mother staying in her chair, leaning forward a little to get a better glimpse of the map.

“Agraewyn and Aetheria are, unfortunately, not neighbouring kingdoms, a smaller kingdom rests between them, the kingdom of Liras, though since we won’t have to pass through the main city it shouldn’t take us too long to get through, and it should be our last stopping point,” Vi continues. “Along the way we should stop at around five inns, it will take a week at the most to get to Agraewyn, though, hopefully, if we don’t come across any trouble, it will take us only five instead of seven days, however,” she looks up after circling every village along the way they’d be stopping at, “We will not be stopping once we cross into Agraewyn, it’s simply too big a risk for Amber and her Highness, if someone spots them we could have the entire guard on our backs before we arrive in Ibauric, which isn’t something I want.”

“I’m assuming that if we are stopped by guards, however,” Lorelei begins, meeting Vi’s gaze thoughtfully, “That you’d be able to keep them from harming us.”

“I would hope so,” Vi nods, drawing a line to signify the path they’d be taking to get to Ibauric. “They should listen to me, however, I’d prefer we not come across any guard at all on our way there, which is why we’re avoiding any densely populated villages once we pass into Agraewyn.”

“With that settled,” Amber nods, regarding the map carefully, “What happens when we arrive at the kingdom, Vi?”

Vi nods along to the question before inhaling sharply. “What I’m hoping is that I’ll be able to order the guard to let me pass into the kingdom with you all without any harm done. By the time we arrive at the palace, my mother will have probably been told of my return, so I’ll take it from there and see if I can bribe her to allow you, Meredith, and your mother to stay in the kingdom while we attempt to talk things out. If I can get through to her you three should have rooms within the castle to sleep in, hopefully not a cell in the dungeons.”

“And if you can’t bribe her to let us talk to her?”

“Well, in that case,” Vi’s tone turns grim. “We hope to God that I can get you three out of Agraewyn in one piece.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that,” Amber sighs softly, shuddering at the thought. “As we know, we’ll be travelling by carriage, correct?”

“Indeed,” Lorelei confirms this time. “We’ll have supplies just in case we have to camp out instead of stop at an inn as well, enough for seven people, including the carriage drivers.”

“We’re not taking guards with us?” Meredith asks, tilting her head and raising her brows as Amber shakes her head, though Vi answers for her.

“Guards could lead to my mother growing suspicious of the queen’s intentions, unfortunately,” she says with a slight scowl. “But...we should be okay, I’ll be there as well as you and Rhino, and we’ve all proven countless times that we’re capable fighters.”

“I’ll provide any armour, weapons, and ammo from the armoury as well,” Lorelei adds in with a nod toward Meredith and Vi, which makes Amber have to suppress a giggle at the excited look that immediately appears on Meredith’s face. “Any supplies we need, I’ll do my best to provide it.”

“Good,” Vi nods, a grateful smile appearing on her as she begins to write supplies they’ll need down on a piece of parchment. “With all that settled, we’ve...officially hit our first big problem,” her smile fades as she sighs, setting the quill down. “We...don’t know what we’re going to bribe my mother with so she’ll leave Aetheria alone.”

“And, unfortunately, I doubt Vi going “But mother, I’m in love with the princess! You can’t hurt her!” will work very well,” Amber adds in with a sigh. “Something tells me it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“Yeah, no, my mother would probably just laugh in my face if I went with that,” Vi snorts dryly, the amusement in her eye dull. “We’re going to have to think of something good, something that will make her reconsider, perhaps offering something-”

“Well, actually,” Rhino pipes in, moving away from Meredith to plant both palms on the table as she meets Vi’s gaze. “I think I might be able to offer an idea, and, if things haven’t changed in Agraewyn since I was there last...it should work.”

“Oh?” Vi’s brows furrow, and she nods toward Rhino, an inquisitive look on her face. “Well, take the stage, then, Rhi.”

“Gladly, Rhino nods, moving over to the side of the table that Vi had been standing at, the other woman moving aside to stand near the queen. “Alright, Vi’s been gone from Agraewyn for longer than I was, but I assume she remembers that we were about to raid Olerin before she left, am I correct?”

Vi nods, as does Amber, who’d heard about that prior, it’d been really the only news they’d had on Agraewyn for a while, actually.

“Well,” a tired noise leaves Vi’s lips as she shakes her head. “We didn’t win,” she starts, clenching her fists on the table as she begins to explain. “Olerin wasn’t hard to raid at first, they’re not a large kingdom, they don’t have the number of soldiers a massive kingdom like Aetheria has, and in the beginning, as far as I know, I wasn’t in the fleet sent there, we were doing fine, until our medics dwindled down and we had to send in another fleet with a new team of them, nothing unfamiliar, medics die in battles all the time, until…”

“Until?” Vi narrows her eye, as Amber’s head tilts.

“Until we found out that Olerin was purposefully targeting our medics the hard way, to the point where, to put it bluntly, we only have one fully trained medic left in Agraewyn, which, as you know, isn’t exactly the smallest kingdom, nor is it the best healthwise,” Rhino’s voice grows grim as she speaks, and Amber shudders involuntarily at the realisation that there were likely sick or injured people in Agraewyn who couldn’t get help in time. “They’d raid our camps in the middle of the night and burn medic’s tents, pick them off in battles, they fought just as dirty as we did, and not only were we low on medics, when we finally had to give up and retreat because it was so clear that this attempt was a lost cause, a good percentage of our soldiers were gone too.”

“What?!” Vi’s gasp rings out in the ballroom, her eye wide. “But Agraewyn has a large number of soldiers, that doesn’t make sense!”

“Well when you don’t have medics to help you out and in battle, you lose more soldiers, Vi,” Rhino’s smile isn’t genuine, it’s tired, and she runs a hand through her hair to get it out of her face. “People died even after we retreated, from ambushes or from infection or sickness, I left after the soldiers got back,” she sighs. “The kingdom’s at it’s weakest point right now, which means no, the queen wouldn’t throw Agraewyn into war immediately, but she’d be desperate enough to-”

“Get her hands on a larger fleet of soldiers to regain ground with,” Vi finishes, nodding. “Which is another reason why she’s so desperate to get her hands on Aetheria.”

“Exactly,” Rhino nods. “But, now that you all know this...we can use this to our advantage,” she adds with a slight smirk. “Because, out of everything, Agraewyn needs medics the most, our people are dying, whether it be from sickness or injuries turning into infection, we need help, and if Aetheria offers it…”

“Mother will have no choice but to accept it!” Vi gasps, a huge grin spreading across her face. “We could offer an alliance! Then if Agraewyn needs help again, they won’t be stuck in a situation like this! My mother couldn’t say no to that!”

“Wait a second,” Lorelei stands up as Amber’s grin had begun to spread, causing her to turn and immediately frown at the grave look on her mother’s face. “That’s a great plan, Rhino, but there’s a huge flaw in that,” she starts, as Rhino’s brows furrow. “I don’t particularly care if my kingdom’s reputation falls for allying with Agraewyn, but the people of Aetheria might, and the last thing we need is a possible revolution, and, along with that, I don’t particularly like the idea of allying with a kingdom that raids and takes over other kingdoms that haven’t done them any harm.”

“Damn it, she’s right,” Vi mutters, her grin disappearing in a flash as she shoves her face into her hands, rubbing her temples gently. “We’d have to give the people of Aetheria a good explanation of how this could benefit us when they’ve only heard negative things about Agraewyn, and I can’t blame the queen for not wanting to ally with my mother, that’d destroy Aetheria’s reputation-”

“Unless we can convince your mother that Agraewyn won’t have to raid kingdoms anymore with Aetheria as an ally,” Amber butts in, a thoughtful look on her face. “I mean, is there a reason why Agraewyn raids other kingdoms?”

“The reputation makes other kingdoms stay away from us, and it helps us gain supplies and more people,” Rhino answers, tilting her head as Amber continues after that.

“Well, Agraewyn won’t need that when they’re allied with us, Aetheria is the largest kingdom and the one kingdom others normally don’t want to mess with, until now, of course,” Amber points out with a chuckle. “Who would even try to mess with Agraewyn when they’re allied with us? Here, hand me a piece of parchment and a quill, let me write this down.”

Rhino reaches over to grab the parchment, sliding an inkwell and a quill over once she passes it over to Amber. Immediately, Amber begins writing, her hand flying across the paper as she opens her mouth.

“Okay, so, as we’ve listed here, if Agraewyn accepts our alliance, they in turn will get our medical help, a portion of our soldiers if they are attacked and need help, and we will hear out and assist with any other things they need if we can offer it, in turn, Agraewyn will stop raiding kingdoms and claiming their territory for their own, and cease their attempts at harming Aetheria’s royalty. Does that sound good?”

“That...sounds great, actually, Vi murmurs, eye wide. “Rhi?”

“That could honestly work,” Rhino nods, meeting Vi’s gaze. “Agraewyn’s never allied with someone before, but that’s a strong offer, and it could even...change Agraewyn and turn it into a kingdom that’s no longer...infamous for harming others.”

“It’ll make Amber and Vi’s relationship less controversial too,” Meredith pipes in, making Amber’s heart soar. “Hell, if this works, Aetheria could end up loving Vi, too, considering she’ll have partially been the reason Agraewyn stopped raiding other kingdoms.”

“This alliance should last, too, now that I think of it,” Vi nods, smiling at Rhino as her head tilts. “I mean, remember who’s in line for the throne back at home, Rhi, there’s no way he’d break it, he’d use this to-”

“Max _would_ lead Agraewyn to a brighter future,” Rhino finishes, eyes widening. “He’d absolutely vouch for this alliance, too!”

“Agraewyn would have been allied with Aetheria anyway at some point, most likely, too, now that I think of it,” Lorelei adds in, shaking her head with a faintly amused look in her eyes. “Considering,” she looks up at Amber. “If you and Vi’s relationship lasts and you two get married, our kingdoms would be allied by marriage.”

“I can’t wait to see Kasdeya’s reaction to finding out you and Amber are a thing, honestly,” Rhino smirks slightly, nudging Vi with her elbow as the knight rolls her eye. “She’s either going to look _extremely_ exasperated or she’s going to have seen it coming.”

“Probably both,” Vi mutters with a faintly amused look on her face. “If anything, I might have to remind her that I’m not going to use my relationship to take over the throne, though.”

“I just hope you won’t have trouble getting her blessing for your marriage,” Rhino continues to snicker. “Not that you’d even ask, probably.”

“I don’t need anyone’s blessing, I marry who I please,” Vi huffs. “If my mother has a problem with that she can deal with it.”

“You’re lucky your mother doesn’t like the idea of betrothals, otherwise you’d be very, very wrong there,” Rhino snickers with a sideways glance at Amber. The princess catches it and squints.

“Okay, okay,” Meredith starts before Amber can think of a response, quieting everyone down as she looks down at the map, eyeing each circle carefully. “Here’s my question; when are we leaving?”

“Hm, that depends on how fast we can get supplies and how much preparing everyone needs before we head out,” Vi answers. “My bet is a week, but it’s really up to the queen to decide.”

“I think a week gives us plenty of time,” Lorelei agrees after a moment, nodding. “Plenty of time to pack, prepare supplies, and get anything else that needs to be settled handled.”

“Then it’s settled,” Vi nods back before turning to look at the others gathered around the table. “We leave for Ibauric a week from now, make sure you’re packed and ready to go the day before, and if you need anything that the queen is offering to provide,” Vi grabs another piece of blank parchment, rolling it over to the inkwell Amber had used earlier, “then write it down now.”

Meredith and Rhino go to write down some things onto the piece of parchment together while Amber looks up at Vi, a soft smile on her lips as she moves over to stand beside the knight. 

“You know,” she starts, giggling as Vi smiles at her, leans down, and kisses her forehead gently. “You’re really good at ordering people about and planning things out, keep that up and you could end up as captain of the guard in the future.”

That makes an almost starry-eyed look appear in Vi’s eye. “Really? That doesn’t sound all that bad, honestly,” she comments, her eye almost growing distant as if she were imagining it actually happening. “I’d be a pretty attractive commander, wouldn’t you think, princess?”

Amber rolls her eyes as a faint smirk appears on her lips. “You’re already attractive enough, I don’t think I’d be able to handle much more, but...the image certainly is...endearing.”

“That’s a cute way of saying that you think the idea of me being in command of the guard is hot, love,” Vi states with a cocky smirk. “I dare say you might even think it’d be ravishing, even.”

Rolling her eyes as a soft pink hue rises on her cheeks, Amber almost wishes that she could tell the knight she was wrong, however, Amber knew the taller woman was very, very right. And Vi seemed to know that already, from the broad smirk on her lips as they continued to look at one another.

For once, Amber lets Vi win, too, knowing that arguing at this point would spiral into nowhere. She just smiles and nods with a bashful smile, her heart warming at the sight of her girlfriend’s pleased grin.

“Perhaps so,” she breathes, chuckling as she beams up at Vi. “But, then again, regardless of if you’re a commander of anything, guard or otherwise, or if you’re just my guard, I find you just as endearing either way.”

That makes Vi blink, her eye widening for a moment, and Amber gleefully watches the other woman get visibly flustered for a moment, her lips parting and closing like a fish for a bit before she smiles warmly.

“ _God,_ you’re a sap,” she murmurs, the look in the knight’s eye loving as she reaches down to tilt Amber’s head up, pressing a quick kiss to the princess’ lips. “But…I guess we both are, hm?”

“Indeed we are, but that’s alright, we can be sappy together,” Amber hums in response, turning to look over at Meredith and Rhino, who were murmuring to one another while looking over their list of requests quietly.

“Do you think we’ll be okay?” Amber asks Vi suddenly, watching the two quietly chat together with a slight smile before she glances back up at Vi, who gazed down at her with a confused look on her face.

“What do you mean?”

“With this travelling to Agraewyn thing, do you think we have good chances? I do, actually, I think we’ll be just fine, but I’m interested in how you feel about all of this, not just because I want to make sure you’re okay, but,” Amber sighs softly. “Because you’re the one who knows your mother best of all of us.”

The question makes Vi go quiet for a few long moments, her brows furrowing as she glances to the side in thought. When she finally answers, her voice is more confident than Amber had expected.

“I think we’ll be okay,” she answers with a sheepish smile. As you said, I know my mother, and she’ll hear at least me out if not anyone else, and if all else fails,” Vi grows almost wistful as she rubs the back of her neck, “I know every secret passage and exit to that castle like the back of my hand, I could sneak you out in no time, Rhino could tell you the same thing.”

“Good,” Amber nods, sighing with more relief than anything else. “Seeing you confident about this make me more confident.”

That makes Vi’s sheepish grin turn into a proud smile as she nods, regarding Amber with a twinkle in her eye. 

“Good, I like it when you’re confident.”

“With you around, it’s hard not to be.”

————————————

As the sun begins to set, rain begins to fall in Aendryr, making Rhino and Meredith’s trek back to the tavern more annoying than anything else, especially when it began to pour down so badly it became hard to see farther than a few feet.

They had stopped by the doctor’s place to grab anything they’d left behind there before taking off in a sprint toward the tavern, Meredith having already, chivalrously as ever, in Rhino’s opinion, thrown her jacket over the blonde’s head to shield her from the torrential downpour.

It was extra chivalrous, too, considering Rhino had been taking off her own jacket when she did it, and when Rhino offered Meredith her jacket in return the thief refused to take it, insisting that she could handle the rain as they dashed through the streets.

_‘She can’t keep being a chivalrous dumbass when she catches cold for running out in the rain like this, she’s lucky we’re so close to home right now,’_ Rhino thinks with a snort as they near the tavern, Meredith nearly slipping on the stone pathway for a moment before Rhino manages to steady her. It takes her a moment of running with only the sound of the rain hitting her ears before she realises that she’d called the tavern “home” again.

She’d done it before on accident, having told Meredith a few days ago that she was going to “head home” after visiting her while she was still healing, though she’d quickly corrected herself once seeing the confused look on Meredith’s face, having likely assumed Rhino had meant somewhere like Agraewyn, not the tavern. It’d taken a quick correction to keep the thief in bed, and the pleased smile that had grown on her lips once realising that Rhino had called the tavern “home” had made Rhino smile no matter how hard she’d tried not to.

_‘To be honest, though,’_ Rhino begins in her head with a sigh. _‘I will admit, that tavern feels more like home these days than anything else does.’_

The tavern is empty for once when they arrive, most stragglers likely would have gone home once the rains had started so they wouldn’t get stuck there. Skylar is the only one at the bar when they step inside the building, soaked and breathless from running all the way there. She looks up at them both, pausing wiping off the bar counter with a surprised look on her face.

“You’re back!” she starts, almost sounding surprised. “I expected it to last longer, honestly!”

“Well,” Meredith responds first, leaning on a table as she attempts to regain her breath, Rhino following suit. “We’re just that good at planning.”

“Let me get you both some towels and then you can come talk to me about what happened,” Skylar offers, setting the rag she was using to clean the counter down. “Are either of you hungry? It’s evening so I could ask my mom to make something for us if you’d like.”

“I could eat, yeah, what about you, Rhi?”

“Sure,” Rhino nods, running a hand through her soaked hair begrudgingly. “Maybe once I change clothes, though, I’m not a fan of sitting in wet cloth.

“Alright, let me go let my mother know, and then I’ll bring the towels to Meredith’s room,” Skylar nods, before she smirks slightly. “Since I _assume_ neither of you are changing in here.”

“If I was going to change in front of an open window I’d charge for it. Unless I like you, you can pay to see anything underneath my clothes,” Meredith responds with a snort. “Close the curtains, though, and I might consider.”

“Good _lord,_ ” Rhino groans with a roll of her eyes, swallowing back the urge to say something flirtatious, she knew very well that if she did she’d likely make things awkward again. 

“Agreed,” Skylar also rolls her eyes, though Rhino could tell that she was at the very least slightly amused by Meredith as the woman beside her snickered childishly.

“You guys just don’t want to admit that you want to see my body, I can tell,” Meredith sighs dramatically, and Rhino immediately proceeds to sigh in exasperation. “Oh, the woes of being so insanely attractive, it truly is a burden.”

“Please stop talking,” Rhino grumbles, following Skylar down the hall once the other girl begins to head down it herself. She hears Meredith following her as she walks, not just by her footsteps but also by the faint giggles the thief was clearly trying to stifle.

They both separate from Skylar as soon as they reach Meredith’s room, turning to enter it while Skylar headed further down the hall to go find her mother and some towels. As she enters Meredith’s room, Rhino turns on her heels, eyeing Meredith with a faint glimmer of amusement in her green eyes as she tosses the thief’s jacket over to her.

“Here,” she starts, Meredith not taking the cue in time as the jacket hits her square in the face. “If your “chivalry” results in you getting sick I’m going to laugh at you.”

Tossing the jacket aside with a snort, Meredith eyes Rhino for a moment quietly, flashing her a small smirk that Rhino hates to admit makes her heart flutter a little. “No, you’ll worry about me,” she says matter-of-factly. “Because even if you won’t admit it, you do care about me.”

“I don’t need to admit it, you know I do,” Rhino’s expression softens, and she chuckles. “Doesn’t mean I can’t make fun of you for being a dumbass.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Meredith laughs, moving past Rhino to go ruffle about in one of the cupboards she used to hold some of her belongings in. “Oh, do you need a change of clothes? I know you have your own but I have some _really_ nice silk clothes that-”

“You stole from some noble, I know,” Rhino smirks as Meredith turns to stick her tongue out at her. “I know you better than you think.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Meredith laughs, before tossing something toward Rhino from over her shoulder. Rhino, having not expected it, lurches forward to grab it, feeling cool silk touch her fingers as she grips what she assumes is a shirt.

“I didn’t give you an answer yet,” she comments, though as she says it she moves to pull her jacket off. 

“Yeah, well,” Meredith doesn’t look behind her again, still rifling about in the cupboard. “I know you better than you think too.”

Before she can say anything, Rhino turns as she hears footsteps down the hall, and once her eyes settle on the doorway she spots Skylar entering the room, two thick towels in her arms that she sets on the crate nearest to Rhino. 

“There you two go,” she starts, beaming over at the two women as she rubs the back of her head almost thoughtfully. “I’m gonna let you both change, but I do want to let you both know that my mother’s making dinner. It should be ready in around an hour, give or take, so get comfortable.”

“Will do, Sky,” Meredith nods, giving the barkeep a half-assed salute. “Rhi and I can keep ourselves entertained until then, can’t we?”

“Sure we can,” Rhino nods, grabbing one of the towels so she could dry herself off. “But I also assume Skylar wants to know about what happened at the meeting, doesn’t she?” she adds, looking up at Skylar with a knowing look, her brows raising as she finishes talking.

Skylar glances at the doorway for a moment as if expecting someone to be there before she turns and nods. “I do, actually, to be honest, though my mother _does_ want me to help her out, so if I get called out I’m gonna have to leave.”

“We’ll give you a quick summary, just let me change,” Meredith nods, suddenly shaking her head like a dog just getting out of water. Water droplets fly off her head, and Rhino scowls when she gets caught in the crossfire.

“If you’re gonna act like a dog you can go sleep outside like one,” she states with a huff, rolling her eyes as Meredith begins to giggle. 

“Even if I was you wouldn’t let me,” she retorts with a smug smirk as she pulls off her shirt, snorting loudly as Skylar immediately looks to the side.

“Sky, we’ve been friends for years-”

“And I still have the decency to give you privacy when you’re changing.”

“I’m wearing a roll of cloth around my chest, there’s nothing to see unless you’re just _that_ dirty minded.”

“Just change your clothes for God’s sake.”

“Fine, fine,” Meredith mutters, snickering as she shakes her head, her arms slipping inside one of the silk shirts she’d pulled out of the cupboard. “You too, Rhi, she won’t look over until we’re both done.”

Rhino rolls her eyes in amusement, sparing a glance at Skylar for a moment before she began changing as well, sighing in relief at the feeling of being in dry clothes. Once they’d both changed, Meredith sits down on her bed, running a hand through her hair to, in Rhino’s eyes, likely try to make it look less messy than it always was. 

“Basically, to be quick, we’re going to Ibauric in a week to hope to God that Vi’s mom doesn’t decide to murder Amber or her mother,” Meredith starts with a dry snort of amusement. “If I don’t get my head chopped off I’ll consider getting you a souvenir, Sky, maybe a knife or something.”

“First of all, we don’t only sell weapons in Ibauric, Mer,” Rhino starts, moving over to sit beside her, rolling her eyes in slight amusement. “Second of all, we’re trying to negotiate an _alliance,_ not just keep Amber and the queen safe.”

“And you two are...sure taking both remaining members of the royal family to an enemy kingdom is a great idea?” Skylar raises a brow, crossing her arms over her chest. “Wouldn’t it be better to at least keep Amber here, just in case? Last I checked, there are no other heirs to the throne, and-”

“Amber isn’t going to let us leave without her,” Meredith points out bluntly, shaking her head. “You know that as well as I do, Sky.”

“I know that, but-”

“Even if the queen and Amber do happen to have their lives threatened, Vi and I know how to sneak out of the castle, if we feel like things are going south, we’ll sneak at least one of them out, hopefully Amber if we can only manage to save one of them,” Rhino points out. “But, to be honest? I doubt we’ll need it, Vi’s mother is more reasonable than you think, the woman practically raised me along with my sister, the reason Vi and I aren’t forcing Amber to stay is because we don’t think she’d just kill them without letting us explain first at least.”

“And you’re both sure this is a good idea?”

“It’s the only idea that’ll work,” Rhino responds plainly. “We can’t expect Kasdeya to willingly come to Aetheria, and we can’t meet in the middle when most kingdoms want Agraewyn gone, it’d be risking not only Kasdeya, but Vi and I’s lives.”

“Alright, just…” the look Skylar gives both Meredith and Rhino makes Rhino sigh softly. “Please keep them both safe, not only because Aetheria needs them, but also because I don’t want to lose my friend, and I think Meredith and I both know that Amber doesn’t need to lose another person she loves,” she adds, looking over at Meredith, and Rhino lips curl into a frown at the pained look on the thief’s face at that.

“We will,” Rhino blurts out as Meredith was likely about to say the same, the slightly taller woman blinking over toward her in surprise. “Vi and I won’t let them die, not when…” she meets Meredith’s gaze with a slight smile. “Not when we care about them, right?”

Meredith is clearly attempting to hide the grin slowly appearing on her lips. “Wow,” she breathes, glancing to the side for a moment. “You know, for someone who tries to be cold, you sure do care a lot.”

“Well,” Rhino chuckles, shaking her head as she finds herself smiling a little more now. “You and Vi both make it hard not to.”

“Look! She can be sappy, look at her- OW!” Meredith’s laughter is cut off as Rhino sharply thwacks her over the shoulder, giving her a sharp, but not genuine glare. 

“Don’t push it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you mean i've been gone for another few weeks its fine it's not like I need to finish this by July 4th and have like 4-5 chapters left or anything hahahaha.
> 
> Next Chapter is the anime travelling episode nobody asked for! Including plenty more gay tension.


	17. XVI - The Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's an anime travelling episode except gay

Despite being told to be packed by the week’s end, per usual, neither Amber nor Vi were ready once the day arrived, and the two were scrambling about to make sure they had everything, having been up since dawn.

Vi had finished before Amber due to not having brought much to Aendryr in the first place, so she had resolved to helping Amber sort through things she thought were necessary to take. There were a few changes of clothes, one formal just in case, some parchment, charcoal, and a book (For the trip there). That was it, not counting the dagger currently strapped to the princess’ thigh.

“You packed light,” Vi had commented while watching Amber begin to place her chosen items into a bag. 

“Well, we’re hopefully only going to be there for a few days, and I doubt I’ll really need anything other than all of this,” Amber had gestured toward her bag then. “Perhaps a few more sets of clothing, that way I’m not having to wear the same few dresses three different times without washing them,” she added, and sure enough, a few more dresses found their way into the bag as well.

Now, they were rushing down toward the front of the castle, already five minutes late. Vi wasn’t that bothered by it, though that was likely due to her still being rather nervous about confronting her mother.

It wasn’t as if she was afraid of her mother, she wasn’t, she knew her mother would let her explain before doing anything, after all, she just worried about whether her mother would accept their offer or not, considering that if she didn’t, Vi’s only other option would be to get Amber and hopefully Lorelei and Meredith out of Agraewyn as fast as possible and to prepare for the worst.

The fresh air that hits Vi as they exit the castle slightly calms her, and she feels Amber’s hand clasp her own as they head down to where two carriages are parked, the drivers currently working on storing any bags or small boxes of supplies within them. 

Lorelei, Rhino, and Meredith are waiting beside one of the carriages, the queen a bit further away as she watches one of the carriage drivers place their luggage into either carriage. Upon spotting them, Meredith raises a brow, smirking slightly, though she doesn’t say anything until Vi and Amber both set their things with the rest of the luggage being packed and head over to them.

“Looks like for once we aren’t the late ones, huh, Rhi?” she comments, nudging the blonde beside her gently with an elbow. Rhino nods in response once she also looks up, chuckling.

“Seems so, what held you two up? Did you oversleep?”

“No, we just…” Vi’s lips pull into a fine line, not wanting to embarrass herself. “Got a little held up.”

She prefers Meredith’s eyebrow wiggle over admitting that she and Amber both had forgotten to pack, though Amber clearly doesn’t as the princess’ face turns a dark shade of crimson, her lips parting to argue. 

“Not like that-”

“Lord, you two are ridiculous, right before we’re set to leave, you’d think you’d have more restraint,” Meredith snickers, though Vi can tell that she’s just teasing as she gives Vi a quick wink. “I hope you have enough restraint to stay decent in the carriage, I know it’s going to get boring but I’d hope it wouldn’t be _that_ boring.”

“Please stop,” Amber groans, shoving her face into her hands. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

“Fine, fine,” Meredith smirks, seemingly only willing to relent half the time if it was Amber who asked, though it didn’t always work, Vi knew that for a fact. “Only because I don’t want you all annoyed with me on the trip, we’re gonna be stuck with each other after all during most of this entire trip, I cannot believe your mother gets her own carriage to herself.”

“Personally,” Amber mutters, much to Vi’s amusement. “I don’t mind it much myself, knowing the two people that are going to be in _our_ carriage,” she adds, glancing at Meredith for a moment before her gaze sweeps over to Vi, who gives the princess a look of mock surprise.

“Me? I haven’t done a thing,” she says, forcing herself not to smirk as Amber raises a brow in disagreement. “You just don’t want me to embarrass you in front of your mother,” she adds.

“You aren’t wrong, however, I _also_ don’t want my mother arriving at Agraewyn at her wits end because of being packed in a carriage with four other young women who have a _tendency_ to get a little rowdy.”

“It’d be cramped as all hell anyway, I’m not really complaining,” Meredith shrugs, turning to glance at the queen for a moment, who hadn’t stopped watching over the men packing their things since Vi had last glanced at her. “I think four people is enough for one carriage.”

“Agreed,” Rhino nods, glancing up at the carriage for a moment, a sigh leaving her lips. “But, disregarding that, are we all ready for this? Not just the trip, I mean, but...you know, being in Ibauric in general.”

Vi nods without hesitation. She’d been mentally prepping herself for this trip all week, after all, and though her heart still raced a little when thinking of confronting her mother upon the trip’s end, she felt more ready than she had been a while back. 

_‘I’m not scared of my own mother, if she doesn’t hear me out, I know how to escape better than she thinks I do, but...I know my mother, she’s not going to just do something she knows will hurt me, she’ll listen, I know she will.’_

Despite most rumours, Vi knew well enough that her mother wasn’t the cruel woman most believed her to be. Intimidating, yes, it was where Vi got it from, and perhaps a bit harsh when angered, however Kasdeya wasn’t _cruel_ unless someone had committed a crime toward her or her family, Vi included, and with a bitter reminder toward her missing eye, she remembers just how scary her mother could get to those who wronged her family. With that in mind, Vi hoped, at least, that if Kasdeya noticed how happy Amber made her that she’d not only spare the princess but drop the original plan to take over Aetheria entirely.

_‘Besides, it’s about time Agraewyn changes its ways, in my opinion, I’m a bit tired of being infamous these days.’_

 

Getting her mother to change her ways would likely be the most difficult part of all of this. Agraewyn had been like this for years now, before her mother had even ascended to the throne. It’s people had been either raised or had grown used to it’s customs, and it was heavily likely that some wouldn’t be all too willing to change their ways so suddenly. Despite this, though, Vi knew that nothing would change if they didn’t stop raiding kingdoms, and that their alliance with Aetheria depended on change as well.

Vi starts suddenly, feeling a hand settle on her armour and gently shake her to knock her out of her thoughts, and she turns and blinks down into a pair of icy blue eyes, and she tilts her head a little in confusion.

“We’re about to leave,” Amber whispers, jerking her head toward the open carriage door, and Vi notices that Meredith and Rhino were no longer next to them, having likely entered the carriage while Vi had spaced out. “You drifted off for a bit there, are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Vi confirms after a moment, offering her girlfriend a slight smile. “I was just thinking about the trip.”

“You’re not nervous, are you?” Amber asks, her brows furrowing as she begins to look over Vi as if searching for any sign of anxiety that could be on the taller woman. Vi shakes her head and offers the princess a cocky grin, winking at her.

“Hardly. With you around, it’s hard to get nervous.”

The faint pink colour that rises on Amber’s cheeks makes Vi’s grin only grow proud as she turns to help her up into the carriage, taking Amber’s hand as she rolls her eyes and begins to ascend the steps within it. Once she’s up all the way, Vi follows her, shutting the door behind her.

The carriage was big enough that two people could stand at once without being too squished together, and there was room for two people on either side to sit. There were two windows on either side of the carriage with curtains that could be drawn over them as well, which, Vi knew, once that arrived in Agraewyn, would have to stay drawn for their own safety.

Luckily for them, the queen had specifically requested carriages that didn’t have the kingdom’s royal crest on it to keep them mostly anonymous while they travelled. The most anyone would know of them would be the people at the inns they stopped at, which likely wouldn’t be a problem as long as they kept inside the carriages once they hit Agraewyn.

Vi takes a seat beside Amber, feeling the princess almost immediately lean against her, and as Vi slings an arm around the princess she looks over at Meredith and Rhino, who were sitting across from them. 

“Comfortable?” Vi starts, attempting to at least start some conversation while they waited for the carriages to get moving.

“Yeah,” Rhino answers that question, gazing out the window as she speaks. “But I’d expect that for a royal’s carriage.”

“Can’t wait to spend what could be a week of several hour long travel in here with you all,” Meredith adds with a dryly humorous tone to her words. “I just hope that none of you snore when you sleep.”

“As if I’ll be able to sleep much in here, summer is beginning to arrive, I can feel it,” Rhino grumbles, glaring at the warm sunlight that shone in through the window. “I can’t sleep when I’m sweating buckets.”

“Rhino has a fair point,” Amber comments, still leaning against Vi. “I might consider asking my mother to search for a mage who can put some type of cooling spell on the carriages, it’s been done before, I just don’t quite remember how.”

“Please do,” Rhino sighs, slumping against her corner of the carriage, a tired look on her face. “Otherwise I’m making Mer fan me for the entire trip.”

“Okay, _princess,_ sure, I’ll do that for you,” Meredith snorts, rolling her eyes. “The most I’ll do for you is let you lean or lay on my lap if you get tired,” she continues, though Vi, much to her own amusement, notices the thief immediately stiffen as if realising what she’d just said. “I mean, uh, well, if you want to, of course.”

Rhino meets Meredith’s gaze for a split second before looking to the side with a slight smile on her face that Vi catches, making her amusement only grow. “I’ll...consider it.”

_‘There has to be something going on between those two, I’ve never seen Rhino act this awkward around someone before, I don’t think.’_

While Meredith and Rhino were distracted, Vi leans closer to Amber’s ear and she nudges the smaller girl gently, nodding toward the two women across from them quickly as Amber’s brows furrow.

“What about them?”

“I bet your ass that they’re fucking.”

“Jesus _Christ,_ ” Amber softly groans, rolling her eyes. “Is it really your business if they are or not?”

“Oh, come on, I know you’re wondering it too, just look at them!”

“I…” Amber bites her lip, and Vi knows she’s won. “Perhaps I have...I’m not blind,” she sighs softly. “There’s obviously something going on there, but I don’t think we should meddle in it, let them sort it out themselves.”

“God help them both, then,” Vi snickers softly, eyeing Rhino with an amused glint in her eye. “Last I checked, neither of them are that experienced in long-term relationships.”

“Well, if they need some help, they can always ask us,” Amber points out with a soft giggle. “As long as you give them a mature answer.”

“Are you saying that I’m not mature?” Vi gasps dramatically, putting a hand to her chest. She turns toward Rhino, who had turned to look at her and Amber with furrowed brows. “Amber’s saying I’m not mature!”

“She’s right,” Rhino responds immediately, something Vi had honestly expected her to say. Despite that, she continues to act shocked, a mock offended look appearing on her face.

“Oh, so now all of you are going to gang up on me,” she starts with a huff. “I see how it is. What about you, Mer? We’re friends, you’ll defend me, right?”

“Sorry, Vi,” Meredith starts, a lazy smirk on her face as she shrugs. “If I had to take sides, it’d be Rhino’s and Amber’s, I’m closer with them both.”

_‘Gotcha,’_ Vi thinks, unable to hold back a smug smirk. “Fine, fine, if you want to be biased, so be it, but _I_ know the truth.”

“The truth isn’t always right, love,” Amber chuckles, and despite pretending to be offended Vi wraps her arm around Amber’s waist as the princess shifts a little to get more comfortable, her grip tightening when the carriage suddenly jolts forward to begin heading out of the kingdom.

Vi notices Meredith’s expression grow thoughtful as she eyes the window, rubbing the back of her neck as she catches Vi gazing at her. 

“Just wondering how well the kingdom might fare without us keeping creepy men from taking over,” she starts, answering Vi’s unspoken question. “I mean, I guess we’re preventing a war or more death from being caused, but it’s still different.”

 

“It definitely doesn’t feel like a vacation,” Amber mutters, causing Vi to snicker softly. “But, regardless, the kingdom will be fine, mom left Ayrenn and Commander Kharza in charge, I’d like someone to try crossing either of them.”

Vi supposed Amber had a point there. Ayrenn was the dark elf that served as Lorelei’s advisor and was likely the closest person to the queen outside of Amber herself, it’d been no surprise to Vi when Lorelei put her in charge while she was gone. Commander Kharza, the woman who’d recommended Vi to be Amber’s personal guard, was also not a poor choice either. Kharza was _intimidating,_ not something too shocking for an orc, and if anything happened Vi knew that she’d be able to keep things in line well enough, she’d seen the orc in action before, after all. Either way, leaving the both of them in charge was likely the best option, Vi wouldn’t have chosen anyone else herself outside of forcing Amber to stay in the castle, which Vi knew well enough wouldn’t have worked.

“I’m not too worried about it, I was just curious,” Meredith continues with a shrug. “Besides, with how much we’ve all been through, if someone even did manage to take over the kingdom we’d be able to get it back, we all know that.”

“As long as you aren’t thrown into any more glass cupboards I don’t have much of a problem with fighting another asshole,” Rhino mutters with a roll of her eyes. “You’re a little too young to die, Mer.”

“I’ll try my best,” Meredith chuckles, lifting her arm up as if she wanted to sling it over Rhino’s shoulders, though Meredith seems to catch herself fast, and her arm lowers back to her side as quickly as it rose up. It makes Vi sigh softly.

This was going to be a long trip.

\-----------------------------

It’s two days of travel before Rhino finally realises that if she doesn’t get some help on how to confess to Meredith that she was going to eventually lose it, and it takes her another day to finally admit that to herself.

The issue, of course, was that there weren’t really many options for her to talk to. She obviously couldn’t ask Meredith for advice, Vi was a no-go from the start, Rhino wasn’t in the mood to be made fun of for the entire conversation, and though she knew Lorelei would try her best to help if Rhino did go ask, she wasn’t exactly a friend.

That left Rhino with one option, and, as she stood outside the door to her room, hand raised to knock, Rhino finds herself cursing softly under her breath.

“What the hell am I doing?” she whispers softly to herself. “This is so stupid, I shouldn’t be this nervous in the first place!”

_‘But I also know it wouldn’t hurt to get advice on this, and she’s the best person to ask right now, Skylar isn’t exactly here, and as soon as I admit everything to Vi she’ll never let me hear the end of it. If I keep trying to ignore the inevitable I’m going to go insane, I need to do this, I just...want to be with her, that’s it, a lot of people desire something along those lines, it’s nothing abnormal.’_

With a quick, deep breath, Rhino steels herself before she raps her knuckles on the wooden door in front of her quickly. This would possibly be her only chance to do this in private, with Vi and Meredith out looking around the village they’d stopped at. She had to do this now.

For a long moment, Rhino wonders if Amber was asleep, if she’d decided to tuck in early, and she feels a bit of relief mixed with a bit of regret for doing this, though as she begins to back up to go back to her room to breathe, the door opens, and Rhino finds herself stiffening as Amber pokes her head out, her head tilting a little upon spotting Rhino.

“Rhino?” the princess starts, her tone laced with confusion. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Rhino knew well enough that Amber’s question really meant “What did Vi and/or Meredith get themselves into this time”, and it takes everything in her not to chuckle as she shakes her head, forcing herself to swallow down her nerves. “No, no, everything’s fine, I just…” she pauses for a moment, her lips pulling into a fine line as she glances to the side. “Wanted to talk...about something...it’s important.”

Amber looks surprised, and Rhino can’t really blame her. They hadn’t necessarily spoken to one another before outside of a few times, and Rhino can’t recall them ever having spoken to one another in private. It wasn’t due to any animosity between them, Rhino was pretty sure, though she had to admit that their rough introduction to one another might have contributed to their lack of conversation.

Truthfully, Rhino harboured no distaste toward Amber. From what Meredith and Vi had told her, Amber was a genuinely good person, kind, thoughtful, always willing to listen first and act later (depending on the situation, of course), and Rhino hadn’t seen any reason to disbelieve that. She just hadn’t really had any chance to talk to the princess, she’d spent most of her time in Aetheria too stuck wallowing in her own feelings to even consider it. This moment now, Rhino realises, could be her chance to change that, though with how awkward she felt already, she wasn’t too sure how great of a new first impression she could make.

_‘For all I know she still views me as the woman who tried to have her killed,’_ she thinks with a soft sigh. It’d felt so long since then, since she’d still viewed all of Aetheria as an enemy, it was almost laughable to think about.

“Well,” Amber says finally, snapping Rhino out of her own head. “Come in, then, I imagine you don’t want to just stand there, right?”

Rhino blinks for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, thanks,” she responds quickly, a little too fast, entering the room Amber and Vi shared as soon as Amber pushed the door open wide enough. Amber shuts it behind them, and as Rhino goes to take a seat in the chair she finds at a desk near the bed, Amber sits on the bed, eyeing Rhino curiously with her pale blue eyes.

“So what’s up?” she starts, crossing her legs on the bed as Rhino begins to drum her nails on the desk. “I...hope nothing’s wrong, though, if that’s the important thing you have on your mind.”

“No, no, nothing’s wrong, as I said,” Rhino shakes her head, though she still finds herself looking to the side as she tries to think of her next response. “It’s just...I...well...I-”

Amber doesn’t interrupt her, she just waits patiently, and for someone Vi had joked multiple times about not being patient (though, to be fair, she’d never specified in what situations Amber might not be patient in, and Rhino wasn’t sure she wanted to know), Rhino has to give her credit for being so willing to listen to her attempt to blubber out a response. Still, though, Rhino knows she has to spit it out, hell, she despises how hard it is for her to just come out and say it outright.

“Look,” she finally says after a long moment. “First things first, I need you to promise me that you won’t tell Vi about this conversation, okay? If she makes fun of me for this I’m kicking her ass.”

Amber pauses before nodding, her brows furrowing. “Okay, I won’t tell her a thing, but,” her confused expression doesn’t fade, “Why would something not wrong be something you’d want to conceal?”

“Because Vi would have a fit with the idea of me coming to you for help with something like this,” Rhino grunts while huffing. “This isn’t like me, you’ve probably noticed how awkward I’ve been, right?”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Amber shrugs. 

“Well, that’s because...well,” Rhino forces herself not to bite her lip, she wasn’t going to be afraid of telling Amber this, of all people, she knew she could trust her to keep this between themselves. “It’s because I like Meredith, more than as a friend, I mean, and...as much as I hate to admit it...I need some advice.”

Amber’s brows raise in surprise, though her surprise is less than what Rhino expected, and she certainly hadn’t expected to hear the princess begin to giggle.

“Hey, don’t fucking laugh!” she growls, scowling. “This isn’t a joke! If I’d known you were going to laugh I really _would_ have just gone to Vi-”

“No it’s- I’m not laughing at _you,_ ” Amber’s giggles cease as she flashes an amused grin toward Rhino, who continues to scowl. “I’m laughing because around three days ago Vi literally turned to me and mentioned that she thought you two were an item.”

“Wait, what?!” Rhino’s eyes widen at that, “She did?”

“Yeah,” Amber nods, a few more chuckles bubbling from her lips. “She said it much more...crudely than I’m telling you, but she did assume you two had some sort of relationship, and…” a sheepish grin appears on Amber. “Admittedly, I could see something between you two as well, but I didn’t want Vi to bother you about it so I told her to not mention it, I’m surprised she listened.”

“Honestly, I am too,” Rhino admits, letting out a soft bout of laughter as she imagined the smug look on the knight’s face. “Vi’s great at a lot of things, but _listening_ when people tell her not to do things? Not always her forte unless it’s about certain things.”

“She’s certainly stubborn and impulsive, I’m not too shocked,” Amber rolls her eyes in amusement, sighing softly, wistfully, and Rhino could tell that she was flashing back to certain incidents in her head. 

“Yeah, believe me, I’d know,” Rhino rolls her eyes at her own memories regarding Vi, finding herself growing more amused by the thought of most of them. _‘Either Max and I were pulling her out of trouble or Max was trying to find a way to get us both out of trouble, there wasn’t an in-between.’_

“But you said you wanted advice, right?” Amber suddenly asks, returning them both to the conversation at hand. “With what?”

“Not to get to know Mer, obviously, I’ve had plenty of time to do that and I’ve done it well,” Rhino rubs the back of her neck before she moves to lean her head against her palm, her elbow propped on the desk. “I know this sounds stupid, especially for someone as normally confident and blunt as me, but...I wanted to ask you...how to confess to her, I guess?”

Amber blinks at her, a slightly confused look on her face, and Rhino groans.

“Look, let me be clear, I’m not used to this shit, okay? I don’t usually fall in love with _anyone,_ it’s only happened once before and though it did blossom into a relationship it...didn’t last, I’m not…” Rhino looks up, and for a moment a flicker of curiosity appears in her green eyes. “I’m not sure if Vi’s ever told you about her and I before?”

“She’s never really brought it up outside of vague mentions, no,” Amber shrugs. “So I knew, I just felt like it was something she didn’t feel the need to get into as a conversation topic.”

“Well, to not move away from the point of this conversation again, let me just bluntly summarise it,” Rhino shrugs, running a hand through her hair as she furrowed her brows to find a good way to explain quickly. “Basically, when we were younger, maybe...two years ago? We dated for a bit, nobody in Agraewyn was really surprised and Vi’s mother was super okay with it since she liked me a lot, but it didn’t last, after Vi’s…” Rhino grimaces, her teeth gritting. “Accident...we drifted apart, and before you get any thoughts about it, no, I didn’t leave her because of her mental state after it, we broke up mutually, I think we both know I wouldn’t ever pull something like that.”

“I wouldn’t have accused you of that,” Amber responds calmly, shaking her head. “As you said, I don’t think you’re the type to pull something like that.”

“Good,” Rhino nods, sighing softly. “Again, as I said, we broke up mutually, we both just decided it wasn’t working out and that we’d do better as close friends, which we obviously are, but even though I took the breakup well...I never found myself falling for someone again, not that I was still into Vi, that wasn’t what it was, I guess I just didn’t really find myself interested in romance for a long while, you know? Just...flings, so…” Rhino finds herself cracking a dryly amused smirk. “When this...thing with Meredith really hit me, after so long of never feeling romantic attraction to anyone else, I didn’t know how to handle it other than how I usually did, which...Meredith clearly didn’t want...but she had a point, I just...don’t know how to confront her on this, I don’t want to fuck up what could possibly one of the best things that’s happened to me in a while, which has just...made me lose all my confidence.”

Amber doesn’t respond for a long moment, her brows furrowed as if she were in thought. It makes Rhino realise that she’s been rambling, and she curses herself in her head, she’d told herself she wouldn’t do that.

“You know,” Amber breathes after about half a minute of silence. It makes Rhino look up to gaze toward the princess. “That reminds me of someone else, someone we both know very well.”

“What?” Rhino’s eyes narrow. “Who could possibly-” Rhino’s breath hitches, her eyes widening as she realises who Amber was talking about. “ _Oh._ ”

“Exactly,” Amber chuckles, flashing Rhino a knowing look. “Meredith has the same view on relationships that you do, Rhi, she’s just as used to romance as you are, she just lacks the experience of being in a relationship entirely, unlike you.”

“She’s...also admitted that she likes me, too,” Rhino adds in, vaguely remembering what happened at the bathhouse all those nights ago. “But we both decided that we’d need to take some time to get our thoughts together and...properly confess.”

“Okay, so we know that she definitely would say yes if you asked, right?”

“Yeah, but-”

“But what? Rhi, she _definitely_ likes you in that way, and I think we both know that you could insult her while asking her out and she’d still say yes, it’s Meredith we’re talking about.”

“I _know_ that,” Rhino groans, shaking her head. “I’m just...worried,” she admits, looking down at the floor as she begins to explain. “I just...don’t want to fuck this up, the relationship, I mean, and even though I didn’t even fuck up in my last one I just have this _horrible_ fear that I will this time.”

“Hey,” Amber smiles reassuringly, in a way that makes Rhino tilt her head a little. “I understand your worry, before Vi and I got together, I worried that it’d all fall apart within weeks too, but...as you can see, it didn’t, thinking about that constantly isn’t good for you,” she says with a pointed look. “You shouldn’t go into a relationship being terrified that you’ll mess something up, Rhi, and besides, I don’t think you will, either, you might make minor mistakes along the way, but,” Amber sighs softly, her smile, “keep in mind, Rhino, one of the most important parts of a relationship is communication, if you’re scared that you’re doing something wrong, you need to _tell_ Meredith, and as her best friend, I know she’d listen.”

The advice, to Rhino both surprise and glee, does help, it does make her feel a little more confident about this. She nods, inhaling and exhaling quietly for a few long moments as she dwells within her own mind. If anything, the advice also made her feel a little stupid for not remembering how willing Meredith was to talk things out.

“Jesus Christ, I’m such a fucking _dumbass,_ ” Rhino sighs after a moment, a bitter chuckle leaving her lips as she leans back against the chair, swinging her arms up in the air in exasperation. “I should have known that!”

“I wouldn’t say that you’re a dumbass, Rhi,” Amber giggles, her eyes gleaming with mirth. “I think you were just too nervous about this to realise all of this. So nervous that rational thought just kind of...flew out the window.”

“I hate being nervous,” Rhino admits with a huff, rolling her eyes as she regards the princess with a very slight smirk. “I’m not normally like this, as I said, if I could handle this confidently I wouldn’t have to be asking you for advice.”

“See, that’s another thing,” Amber remarks at that, and Rhino’s expression grows curious in response. “You’re still confident in my eyes, confident enough to tell me about this when you know very well how close Mer and I are, confident enough to trust me in that I won’t tell Vi a thing about this conversation, confident enough to _admit_ that you have feelings for Meredith, not just to yourself, but to me, when, from what Vi’s told me about you, Rhi, you don’t seem to be the type to admit this kind of thing.”

“Probably because Vi thinks that I still see love as a waste of time,” Rhino rolls her eyes in slight amusement. It’d been a belief Rhino had followed for a while, admittedly, though in the past few weeks she’d found herself slowly disagreeing with her own belief, something that she, admittedly, found herself rather pleased over. “But...yeah, I guess I am still confident, huh?”

“Confidence isn’t just black and white,” Amber chuckles. “You can be confident in so many different ways, of course you are, and you want in on a little secret?”

“Sure.”

“Meredith _adores_ confidence, not only that but seeing others be passionate over something they like to do, it’s something she and I share in preference,” Amber says with a grin. “It’s one of the things she finds the most attractive in someone, no wonder she likes you so much.”

That makes Rhino grin, not involuntarily this time as she nods. “She mentioned that a long while ago, during the first few days we spent together.”

“If you keep telling me all these things that you know about Mer I’ll run out of surprises to try and give you,” Amber laughs, shaking her head. 

“Unfortunately for you, Meredith is an open book toward people she likes, I assume, if not that she just loves talking about herself.”

“Mm,” Amber flashes Rhino an amused smirk, one Rhino returns after a moment. “I think we both know that it’s a little bit of both.”

That makes Rhino laugh a little bit, and she can’t help but agree. “Exactly,” she breathes, covering her mouth to stifle any more laughter as she watches the princess giggle across from her. 

_‘God, I feel so much better now, if I’d known asking Amber of all people would help me feel better about all of this, I’d have asked her way sooner, it almost makes me question Vi for always making fun of Amber for not being patient, honestly.’_

Sighing softly as a genuine, grateful smile appears on her lips, Rhino nods toward Amber, who only smiles back. “Thank you for letting me ramble to you, I uh...hope I didn’t end up preventing you from getting sleep.”

“You’re fine, don’t worry, I wasn’t going to sleep until I got tired or until Vi got back anyways,” Amber shrugs, nodding back. “I’m glad I got to help you, anyways, friends got to look out for one another, right?”

Rhino snorts at that, amusement lacing her words as she begins to respond. “Friends?”

“Of course, any friend of Vi’s and any future partner,” Amber winks at that, which makes Rhino roll her eyes. “Of Meredith’s is a friend to me.”

“That’s funny, honestly,” Rhino chuckles, shaking her head. “After our first meeting, I would have expected you to permanently lock me in the “I tolerate you and that’s it” zone.”

“Eh, well, if that were the case Vi and I likely wouldn’t be together right now, call me overly trustworthy, but I think giving second chances is important.”

“Well, hopefully, you won’t have to give me a third one, considering that I’d probably get my ass royally kicked for so much as unsheathing a blade in your direction by Vi and Meredith.”

“Well,” Amber giggles, covering her mouth slightly. “Call it a hunch, but I doubt that’ll ever happen now.”

“Yeah, well,” Rhino shrugs, “Honestly, as long as you don’t hurt Vi you’re on my good side.”

“Well, funnily enough, I could say the same to you, just add Meredith to the mix.”

“I promise you I won’t hurt either of them, outside of yelling at Vi for being a dumbass occasionally,” Rhino responds with a slight smirk, rolling her eyes at the thought of her friend. “So I guess we’re friends?”

Amber nods, beaming. “Friends, and Rhino?” her smile softens into a warmer one, “You can always come talk to me if you ever need it, I might not always be the best at giving advice, to be honest, Skylar’s always been much better at it than I have, but I can always try.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Rhino nods as she slowly begins to stand once more, and once she stands fully she thinks of one more thing to say. “Vi really wasn’t lying to me when she said that you were one of the kindest people she’d ever met, you know.”

“She talks about me to you?” Amber’s eyes are wide, curious. It makes Rhino chuckle softly.

“Constantly, to the point where it's grating,” she answers with an amused roll of her eyes. “It’s like she thinks that bragging about you is a boost to her ego.”

“Oh, she definitely does,” Amber giggles with a twinkle to her blue eyes. “And you better get prepared, Meredith likes to brag too.”

Opening the door, Rhino finds herself grinning rather than groaning, and as she steps out the door she turns her head to look over at Amber, chuckling.

“Well,” she breathes. “I look forward to it, goodnight, Amber.”

“Goodnight, Rhino, good luck.”

“I won’t need it,” Rhino mutters as she shuts the door, a slightly cocky smirk crossing her lips as she hears footsteps, her eyes darting over to the top of the staircase nearby.

Vi and Meredith step onto the second floor, laughing over something, Rhino didn’t know, though she rolls her eyes when she catches the smell of alcohol on the both of them when they grow near.

“Rhi!!!” Meredith slurs as soon as she spots her, lurching over to sling her arms around Rhino’s shoulders. It makes Rhino start, though she wraps her arms around Meredith in an awkward hug, mainly to keep her on her feet.

“You two got drunk...when we are on a trip that could lead to at least half of us getting lynched?” Rhino starts, patting Meredith’s head as the thief buries her face in her shoulder whilst glaring sharply at Vi, who immediately grows sheepish.

“To be fair…” she starts, rubbing the back of her neck. “I never said I was...smart.”

“And if you did, you’d be lying,” Rhino snorts, sighing as she begins to move backwards, Meredith stumbling after her clumsily as she attempts to lead the slightly taller woman to their room. “Now go to bed, your girlfriend is waiting for you.”

“She is?” Vi blinks, tilting her head. Rhino notices for a moment that the knight seemed, at least, less drunk than Meredith was acting. “I hope it’s not too late, I don’t want her waiting for me if she needs to sleep...I should go and see her.”

“Yes you should, now, _goodnight,_ ” Rhino grunts, practically dragging Meredith with her to their room, hearing a soft click as Vi entered her room. “If and when you have a hangover tomorrow I hope you regret this, God forbid something bad happens tomorrow.”

“Relaaax,” Meredith drawls, as Rhino pulls her into their room. Clumsily, the thief backs up to try and haphazardly pull her jacket off. “I could take on three men armed to the teeth drunk off my ass, we’ll be fine.”

As much as Rhino wanted to be annoyed with the woman in front of her with one arm still stuck in the left sleeve of her jacket, she finds herself unable to hold back an amused grin, shoving the thief into the bed once she had finally managed to get her jacket off.

“Well, for personal reasons, I hope that day never comes,” she breathes, plopping down beside Meredith, one of her hands reaching over to brush a few messy strands of sweaty black hair off her forehead. 

“What personal reasons? Do you liiiiike me~?” Meredith snickers crudely, and Rhino rolls her eyes, realising that the raven-haired woman was much drunker than she thought if she was being that forward, joke or otherwise.

“Mm,” Rhino smirks gazing down at the goofy expression on Meredith’s face, so full of a form of smug joy that she couldn’t help but adore. “You’ll find out soon.”

\-----------------------------------

Riding through Ibauric once more after months of being away from it was one of the most surprisingly nerve-wracking experiences Vi had found herself going through in a while, and though the curtains were drawn to keep the passengers inside from being seen by the common folk, she couldn’t help but feel nervous.

They’d be fine until they rode up to the front gates of the palace, of course, however being home wasn’t as comforting as Vi had expected. Every wheel turn made her more and more anxious, her hand resting on Amber’s clothed thigh as the girl rested beside her, still awake, Vi knew, she could tell with how quickly she was breathing, though her eyes were closed, something Vi couldn’t blame her for.

There’s a soft “Ow!” from Meredith as they near the castle, and Vi’s head snaps up to notice the thief rubbing her shoulder reproachfully.

Rhino scowls as she rolls her eyes, glancing over at Vi. “She tried peeking out the window,” she explains, turning back toward Meredith as she sighs. “Look, when this is all over and your head isn’t separated from your body, you can sightsee all you want, I’ll go with you and show you around.”

“Really?” Meredith gasps, stars in her eyes as she turns to look at Rhino with a broad, excited grin. It makes the corners of Rhino’s mouth quirk up slightly as she shakes her head in exasperation.

“Yes, really, you big dolt,” she huffs. “Now stop acting like a child, we’re about to be in a highly dangerous situation and the last thing we need is you acting like this while surrounded by armed guards.”

Vi sighs, shaking her head a little as she listens to the two bicker a little more for a bit before she turns to glance at Amber, whose eyes were open now. The princess turns her head to look at Vi, and she offers the knight a soft, warm smile, one Vi immediately returns.

“Hey-” the princess starts, however whatever she was about to say is cut off by the carriage suddenly halting, and Vi feels her heart stop for a moment as Amber’s breath hitches, hearing guards yelling outside.

“I love you,” the princess blurts out, as if it might be the last time she’d say it, leaning up to kiss the knight on the lips quickly. “You’ve got this.”

“I love you too,” Vi murmurs, grasping Amber’s hands and squeezing tightly for a moment before she stands. “All of you, get ready, and do _not_ do something you’ll regret once we’re all out of the carriage,” she says sharply, before she goes to the door of the carriage and opens it, poking her head out.

A group of guards stand at the carriages, and one is about to open the queen’s when their head turns toward Vi, their hand halting.

“Your Highness?” they breathe, and Vi watches them step away from the queen’s carriage as they carefully eye her. “What’s going on?”

Vi takes a deep breath, her gaze growing stoic as she steels herself, preparing for the worst with as much strength as she could muster.

“I’d like to speak with my mother. It’s important.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha I have 2-3 days now and I have two more chapters plus the epilogue to write,,,,kill me.
> 
> Next Chapter: The anticipated meeting, a long-awaited confession, and the results everyone's been waiting for...


	18. XVII - The Rogue Kingdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tfw ur mom wants to kill ur gf for being the enemy and you have to consider possibly pulling a wlw version of romeo and juliet without the double suicide :(

If someone had told Vi several months prior that she’d end up sitting in front of her mother in her room while explaining why she’d failed her mission and why the people she’d brought to Ibauric were, in fact, _not_ did end up killing _a_ royal-”

“But not the one you were tasked to go after! And according to your report, you weren’t even the one to do it, the _princess_ was!”

“Mother, please, listen-”

“Give me _one_ reason why I shouldn’t have all three of the Aetherians you brought thrown into the gallows right now!”

“Well, for one, I’m literally in love with one of them, and Rhino is too- don’t say it, Rhi, I know you like Mer, everyone within a few feet of you both can tell,” Vi starts, turning to give Rhino a knowing look, catching her friend frozen with her mouth parted as if she were going to argue. “Second off, as I said, the Queen of Aetheria wants to negotiate peace with you, an allyship, even! Isn’t that better than trying and failing over and over again at taking over a kingdom more than twice our size?!”

“You have been _brainwashed_ by these people, Vi, remember what we’ve been taught-”

“What? That Aetheria is full of horrible people? That every fucking kingdom is just like them? That’s bullshit and you know it, mother,” Vi snorts, rolling her eye. “You shouldn’t have sent me there and let me stay there for so long if you thought I wouldn’t notice that. Everything they taught us was a _lie,_ and you need to wake up and realise it too.”

“She’s right,” Rhino nods, and Vi gives her a grateful look. “The only horrible person I saw in Aetheria was the king, everyone else was kind, as kind as some of the citizens in Agraewyn, taking over isn’t worth it when they’re literally _offering_ to ally with us, and if I know one thing, your highness, it’s that we _need_ this, we need _help,_ not more fights, and they’re offering that help.”

Vi nods. “Mother, please, we need medical help for most of our kingdom, and we lost a good chunk of our soldiers according to what Rhino told me about the last attack, we need this, whether you like it or not.”

“Plus,” Rhino adds, furrowing her brows. “It’s not like you wouldn’t have your own blood in Aetheria also! Vi’s literally _dating_ the princess, can you _imagine_ the reputation you’d get from that?”

“I’m not using that to corrupt the throne, though,” Vi adds in pointedly, giving her mother a serious look.

Kasdeya is silent for a while, something that makes Vi uneasy as she waits for her to respond. She glances at Rhino, who gives her a similar look, which doesn’t make her feel any better.

After what feels like hours, Kasdeya finally sighs softly, shaking her head. “Fine. I’ll talk with the queen,” she mutters, rolling her eyes in almost tired amusement at the grin that appears on Vi’s face. “But, and you listen here, I am not promising that anything will come of it, if I don’t like the terms and disagree with them and nothing comes of this, she’s not leaving this kingdom alive, you understand?”

Despite the nerves running through Vi at the threat, she nods, grateful her mother had agreed with her in the first place. “I don’t think that’ll happen.”

“We’ll see,” Kasdeya says with an almost thoughtful look in her eyes. “We’ll hold the meeting tomorrow, Vi, you will be there too, as well as that...girlfriend of yours.”

Vi nods. “Alright, mother.”

“As for now, I _suppose_ that the three you brought here can sleep in the guest rooms in the castle, but they are not to leave their rooms and will have guards posted outside them, and-”

“I can go s-”

“ _Yes,_ you can visit them, it’s not like I’d be able to stop you,” Kasdeya rolls her eyes. “But you will be present for dinner tonight, and you _will_ go at least say hello to your brother before you do anything else today, he’s been worried sick about you both.”

“I’ll go find him before checking up on Amber,” Vi nods, Rhino grunting something that sounded like an agreement. 

“Good, then I’ll be seeing you both in a few hours when it’s time to eat,” Kasdeya nods, eyeing both women for a moment with a sigh. “And keep your...friends out of trouble, I won’t bat an eye right now if one of them gets hurt from being stupid.”

“We’ll handle it,” Rhino nods, already beginning to push Vi out the room. “You can count on us, you just...uh...get some rest, you know, mentally prep for tomorrow.”

“I will, and I will see you two in a little bit,” Kasdeya nods, and as she says that Rhino shuts the door behind them, leaving just her and Vi in the hallway.

“God,” Rhino groans, shoving her face into her hands. “This was such a horrible idea, they’re gonna be in the gallows by sundown tomorrow at this rate.”

“I dunno,” Vi murmurs, shaking her head. “My mother isn’t...cruel, she wouldn’t just do this to draw out their deaths, I think she actually wants to hear them out, this is the first time a kingdom has dared to _negotiate_ with Agraewyn, after all, this is new territory for her.”

“Maybe through this,” Rhino sighs, as they begin to walk down the hall, heading for Max’s room to see if he was there. “She can realise Aetheria isn’t as bad as she was lead to believe as well.”

“Yeah, well, I hope so,” Vi nods, sighing as well. “But if she doesn’t, I suppose eloping is always an option,” her lips curling into a slight smirk as Rhino rolls her eyes.

“I hate that you’re right.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“You wish.”

\-------------------------------

Despite the rough circumstances, Amber actually found herself rather liking Agraewyn, or, well, the view of Agraewyn she got from the room she’d been given. It did look nice, she hadn’t tried looking in the carriage at all as to not risk being seen. She honestly just hoped she’d be able to walk around Ibauric soon if everything turned out alright.

Once they’d rolled the carriage in front of the castle, Vi had slowly escorted her, Rhino, Meredith, and her mother to the front of the castle, where they had been promptly surrounded by guards. Vi had kept in front of her the entire time, blocking her off from any of the guards, Rhino having done the same for Meredith. When Kasdeya had appeared, the guards had ceased, though Amber had only grown more nervous as the queen had approached.

Kasdeya was an almost _spitting_ image of Vi in the face, though she was obviously visibly older. She looked a little taller too. Her black hair was cut short, similar to Meredith’s, though the sides were longer, a golden crown encrusted with red gems positioned on her head. She wore a mostly black gown with silver trimming and embroidery, and her eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue compared to Vi’s. 

To say she wasn’t too pleased when she figured out why Vi wasn’t letting the guards touch the three from Aetheria was an understatement. While she visibly didn’t show much anger outside of a scowl and a furrowed brow, the glare she’d swept across the newcomers made her blood chill, she knew she wasn’t going to feel welcome on the way here, but it hit harder than she expected, and this time she couldn’t exactly hold Vi’s hand through it, the knight being occupied.

Once Vi had managed to bribe her way into getting them placed in rooms in the castle and not the dungeons, Amber, Meredith, and her mother were herded into the castle while Vi and Rhino followed Kasdeya elsewhere. Being without the two made being in the foreign kingdom much more harrowing, and once they were all separated into their own rooms, it wasn’t any better.

Though she had her things, Amber paced back and forth in her assigned room for a long while, too nervous to even consider laying down. She didn’t regret coming here, she knew this was for the best, however, she couldn’t help but worry about not only herself, but her mother and best friend too. If this plan failed, they were all dead unless Vi and Rhino got them out in time, and then they’d have no choice but to prepare for war.

After what feels like hours of pacing around, fear giving her the energy to keep on doing it, the door to her room creaks open, and Amber whirls around, expecting to see a guard, relief coursing through her when it’s only Vi, the knight’s eye widening a moment at the shocked look on the princess’ face before it softens.

“Sorry, I should have knocked,” she mutters, shutting the door behind her as she heads in, fixing a worried blue gaze on Amber. “I just wanted to check on you, I have until this evening to do what I want, so I thought I’d visit you, I just went to catch up with Max, otherwise I’d have been here sooner.”

“That’s fine, how did that go?” Amber asks, moving to sit on the bed finally as Vi follows her, stretching languidly.

“Good, I don’t know if I told you this, but I missed my brother a hell of a lot back in Aetheria, I honestly hope I can write to him more when I get back,” she starts, plopping herself down beside Amber before she lets herself fall onto her back. “We caught up on what was going on here and in Aetheria, talked about how we were both doing, talked about you, the usual.”

“Oh?” Amber turns to look at Vi, raising a brow as she smiles slightly. “And what about me did you talk about?”

“Oh, well,” a mischievous smirk appears on Vi’s lips, one Amber can’t help but have missed seeing. “About how cute you are, as well as how much a gift to this world you are, the usual.”

Amber’s face grows pink at that, likely Vi’s intention as the knight smirks more and reaches over to tug her down by the from of her dress. It causes Amber to fall over onto Vi, and she brackets her arms on each side of Vi’s head, an amused smile crossing her lips as her hair brushes against Vi’s face.

“You’re ridiculous,” Amber breathes, forgetting about any anxiety she’d had prior as Vi chuckles lowly, her eye lidding halfway.

“Yeah, well, I know you love it,” she husks, gently pulling Amber closer so she could kiss her. Amber melts into fast, using her position to kiss back a little more enthusiastically than she was used to, but she hadn’t been able to be affectionate with her girlfriend for a bit now, and she’d missed having a moment with her by themselves.

Pulling back after a long moment, Amber sighs, her forehead pressed against Vi’s. “How long are you here for?”

“A few hours, I’d wager,” Vi murmurs back, eye full of mischief. “Why?”

“Not for the reason you’re likely considering,” Amber rolls her eyes a little, kissing Vi’s nose quickly. “Not that I don’t want to, I’m just...tired, and I’m honestly not really in the mood right now, the looming threat of death over my head kinda makes it hard to be.”

“Yeah...I know,” Vi sighs, her smirk fading as it softens into a sympathetic smile. Amber kisses her one more time before rolling off of her to go lay properly on the bed, sighing happily when Vi follows her to lay beside her.

“Listen,” the knight starts, sighing heavily. “I promise you that whatever happens, I’ll fight like hell if your life is endangered, okay?”

“I’d do the same for you, Vi,” Amber smiles, scooting over to curl up against the knight. “Whether you think I can or not.”

“After seeing what you did to the king, I think you could,” Vi remarks, making Amber smirk. “But, regardless, I almost forgot to tell you, my mother is meeting with your mother, you, and I tomorrow, this is it.”

“The meeting that decides everything, literally, considering three of us could die if it doesn’t go well.”

“Well, for now, I say we focus on the positives, like, for example, you three not dying, and my mother agreeing with your mother.”

“I agree,” Amber mumbles, pushing her face into Vi’s sternum. “But you know what? I have you here for a few hours, I’m gonna cherish it, even if it’s by napping with you.”

“I’ll be back here when dinner ends, Amb,” Vi laughs, pressing her face into the princess’ hair. “My mother isn’t forcing me to sleep in my room, actually, she...didn’t mind me coming to see you.”

“Really?” Amber asks, and once she gets a nod back she smiles a little, pressing a kiss to Vi’s chest. “Well...maybe your mother...and I know this might be far fetched but hear me out...perhaps your mother likes the fact that I make you happy? She probably just doesn’t know how to comprehend it being a possible enemy.”

“To be fair...I think she’s actually trying,” Vi admits, chuckling. “She always has for me, this is probably just not that easy to take in, I did fail the mission she had me do, after all.”

“Well, maybe in time, if things all work out, she’ll grow more and more okay with it, just give her some time.”

“I know,” Vi nods slightly, pressing a kiss to Amber’s forehead. “But she’s actually really cool when she’s not...dealing with alliances and all that,” she adds with a brief laugh. “Perhaps you’ll see that in time.”

“Well, I hope so,” Amber breathes, beginning to relax as Vi’s arms curl around her, the lull of possible sleep luring her in as she moves around a bit to grow more comfortable. “Either way, I’m just happy that I’m here with you, even if tomorrow is going to be hell.”

“Tomorrow might be hell, but…” Vi breathes out softly. “If all goes well, I’ll take you out on a date to show you around Ibauric, all my favourite places and all that, and then when we get back I want to show you my room.”

“That sounds...really nice,” Amber smiles warmly, the idea of being able to walk around somewhere Vi had grown up in and had good memories living in making her heart grow warm. “Do you promise?”

Vi’s breath hitches, and for a moment, Amber realises that Vi didn’t know if they’d be okay after tomorrow, she knows that most of Vi’s confidence was stemming from her cocky nature, though a good portion of it had to be a facade to keep the knight’s own spirits up.

Despite this, though, Vi nods, and Amber can tell by how she carried her voice that the knight was determined, whether it be to keep her alive or keep the promise, or both.

“I promise.”

\---------------------------

Rhino hates knowing that the look on Vi’s face as she follows Amber and Lorelei into the throne room for the meeting was just another show of false confidence. She knew it was, she’d known Vi for years now, since they were kids, and she could read her expressions easily, could see the flash of fear in Vi’s eye, something she so rarely expressed. Vi wasn’t one to commonly admit she was afraid, she hated admitting it, she always liked being seen as brave and unabashed, and to watch her anxiously look over her shoulder and meet Rhino’s gaze, Rhino only nods, mouthing “You’ve got this” toward her in hopes that it would reassure her.

Once the doors shut, Rhino sighs before turning on her heel, deciding to go find somewhere to sit would be nice.

She eventually finds the empty dining hall, and with a huff she plops herself down into one of the chairs, swinging her legs up and onto the table as she stares at the ceiling.

 _‘Mer’s bound to be awake by now...maybe I can go talk to her? I haven’t spoken a word to her since we got here, which was a day ago but…’_ Rhino bites back a sigh. _‘I think I’m too scared to talk to someone who could be dead later this evening, what would I even say? I can’t look her in the eyes and not cry over worrying that her head might be in a basket in a few hours.’_

Rubbing her face for a moment with one hand, Rhino groans. “What the fuck am I supposed to say, anyway? “Hey, I love you, also, for all I know, you could be executed in a few hours if this plan doesn’t work, so let’s just skip every base and pretend I won’t see you headless or hanging in a few hours.”? That’s just- I can’t!”

“You know, the entire castle can hear you, probably, you’re not exactly being quiet, not that I mind you venting.”

Rhino nearly flies out of her chair, jolting as she moves from her lazy position into a more rigid one, turning to see a familiar face that she thanks God isn’t Meredith for once.

Standing taller than Meredith at 6’3 with a head of slightly messy white-blonde hair a colour similar to Rhino’s own, Max was leaning against the doorframe, offering Rhino a friendly smile as he regarded her with warm green eyes. 

“You could’ve knocked,” Rhino grunts.

“The door was open.”

“So? Knock on the doorframe! You nearly gave me a heart attack, Max!”

“I think you’ll live,” Max chuckles, heading over to lean against the table, curiously gazing down at Rhino with a cocked brow. “There’s clearly something bothering you though, what’s up?”

“I’m in love with an idiot who could be dead in a few hours, you know, the usual thing for me,” Rhino starts sharply before she sighs and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I’m just frustrated, she could literally die without knowing that I liked her back and because of that I’m too cowardly to consider going to see her.”

Max is silent for a bit, his brows furrowing before he looks up again. “I assume this is over the one girl who wasn’t a royal in the group you brought back here?”

“Who else would it be? I’m not stealing Vi’s girlfriend and the queen is a _little_ too old for me,” Rhino scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“Alright, well, to be blunt, I think you’re right, you are being a bit cowardly,” Max then adds, making Rhino blinks rapidly, flashing a surprised look toward the boy across from her.

“You...what?”

“I mean, think about this, would you rather she knows for the last potential hours of her life, or for the rest of her life if you manage to get her out of here or she survives, or do you want her to die not knowing if you liked her back?”

“I…”

“Regardless, Rhi, I don’t even think she’s going to die today, from what I saw from mother this morning...she seems at least willing to listen, and I honestly think she just wants her daughter happy over much else, so why not? Asking her now might be cliche, but I mean,” Max shrugs. “Who really cares about that?”

“True…” Rhino nods, drinking in every word before mulling it over in her head. “It’s...not like there’d be any consequences if I did, too.”

“Rhino,” Max chuckles, and Rhino looks up to regard him curiously. “The worst thing that could happen is that she might say no to you, you’ll be fine.”

“She wouldn’t even do that, I know she likes me back, we’re both just waiting for someone to confess.”

“Then you have nothing left to lose, then!” Max shakes his head, rolling his eyes. “You could’ve confessed days ago, since you found out!”

“To be fair, it’s been about...two to three weeks since I found out...”

Max blinks at Rhino with one of the most confused looks she’s ever seen on him, his brows furrowing again as he shakes his head.

“You...you’re hopeless.”

“Hey!” Rhino shoots up to sit up straight in her chair, glaring sharply- though it never was too harsh when it was aimed at Max- at the boy in front of her. “It’s not my fault I’m not good at romance! Vi wasn’t either!”

“From what Vi told me last night when we were catching up, it only took her a few months.”

“It’s been less than a few months for me!”

“True, but Vi didn’t know Amber liked her back when she confessed.”

“Surprising, with how those two act now, you’d be surprised if they both couldn’t notice each other drooling over themselves.”

“Coming to terms with your feelings is difficult, Rhi, it takes different amounts of time for certain people,” Max shrugs, before smiling over at Rhino. “But as I said, if you both know you like each other, I think you should go tell her, Agraewyn might not be the most ideal place to confess your feelings, but...to be fair, this could be your last chance if this meeting goes south.”

Slowly getting to her feet, Rhino sighs, looking over at Max. “I think you’re right,” she inhales slowly before exhaling, a deep breath she’d felt like she’d been holding for way too long ebbing it’s way from her lips. “I’m ready.”

“Hell yeah you are,” Max reaches over to gently pat Rhino on the shoulder, the shorter woman flashing him a grateful smile. “I hope you invite me to the wedding.”

That makes Rhino snort in laughter, shaking her head. “Don’t push it that far, I can already feel Mer’s ego skyrocketing, and it’s already high enough.”

“So she’s basically Vi, then, huh?”

“Yeah, except she’s taller, has both her eyes, and she’s not as much of a dumbass, they’re both cocky and reckless, though, that’ll be fun to deal with,” Rhino pretends to sigh in exasperation, though a soft laugh manages to escape her for a moment. 

“You know, part of me thinks I should try to persuade you to stop calling my sister a dumbass,” Max starts, as Rhino turns to smirk at him.

“Except you won’t ever manage that, she’s a dumbass, Max, you just have to deal with it.”

“I’ve been dealing with it for years now,” Max shoots back, making Rhino snicker.

“Exactly.”

“But I shouldn’t hold you back anymore, you should go see that girl you like, spend some time with her, I’ll see you later, you know where my room is if you ever want to talk or hang out.”

“Of course, Max,” Rhino nods, smiling a genuine, warm smile before she steps over, moving to hug him briefly for a moment. Max immediately returns it. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, _someone_ in this friend group has to provide good advice.”

“You mean me, right?”

“...yes, of course, Rhi.”

Rhino laughs as she waves Max goodbye before heading out into the hall, walking toward the three rooms Amber, Lorelei, and Meredith had been assigned to. Two were empty right now, though the last one on the right wasn’t, and she gives the two guards in front of it an even look before moving past them to knock.

“Come in!”

 _‘For all she knows I could be a guard coming to execute her, I’m surprised she still sounds so cheery_ ’ Rhino remarks in her head, though being a bit overly positive had always been Meredith’s thing, she supposed.

Opening the door, Rhino pokes her head in the room at first, noticing how Meredith’s face immediately lights up at the sight of her. She slowly moves inside the room, feeling butterflies in her stomach as she shuts the door behind her.

“Hey, Rhi! I was starting to get worried!” Meredith starts, wandering over to stand a foot or so from Rhino as she grins, though the suddenly serious look on Rhino’s face makes her smile falter. “Er...you okay? The...the meeting isn’t over, isn’t it?”

It takes a moment for Rhino to realise that Meredith likely assumed she’d come with bad news, and she frowns as she shakes her head quickly. “No, no, it hasn’t, you’re fine, Mer, don’t worry.” 

_‘Besides, Vi and I made it clear last night what would happen if things don’t go well. If I had come in here about that, we’d already be out of the castle.’_

“Oh, thank God, sorry, I must look a little frazzled,” Meredith sighs, running a hand through her hair as if to try and smooth it down. “I heard Amber and Lorelei leave, I’ve been a bit anxious, as much as I hate to admit it.”

“I can’t blame you,” Rhino sighs, shaking her head. She couldn’t imagine it herself, having to sit alone in this room waiting either for death or for good news. The idea made her grimace.

“But if that’s not what you came here for, what is?”

Rhino bites her lip for a brief moment before letting it go, taking a deep breath. It was time. 

“We need to talk.”

“I...alright,” Meredith’s brows furrow, but she nods, leading Rhino over to sit beside her on the bed. Their hands brush while they sit, and Meredith begins to pull it away, clearly just trying to give space, though Rhino grabs it before she can move it any further, lacing their fingers together on impulse as the girl across from her doesn’t pull back, only looks down at their hands before blinking back up at Rhino wordlessly.

“Listen to me,” Rhino breathes, looking directly into Meredith’s eyes, ignoring how rapidly her heart was hammering in her chest. “I know that you and I have been...awkward with one another since that night in the bathhouse, I want to apologise for being so forward so soon, I’m just...too used to doing something like that, it wasn’t fair, especially when we were both drunk.”

“I..” Meredith blinks, clearly having not expected this conversation to happen at all. “It’s fine, Rhi, I didn’t mind it.”

“I know you didn’t, but it lead to us being like...this,” Rhino shakes her head, growing frustrated. “Too worried that touching one another is too much, constantly waiting for one of us to just _say something,_ well, I should have done this a week ago, before we left, but I’m just as good at this as you are.”

“I-”

“No, let me say it,” Rhino uses her free hand to gently place her thumb over Meredith’s lips. “Mer, I _really_ like y- no, I’m not sugarcoating it, I love _so_ many things about you, your smug smiles, your tendency to get into trouble, your confidence, but most importantly, I love _you,_ and I’m tired of us being like this, I want...to try love again, and if it’s with you...I’m okay with it.”

Meredith’s silent for a long while, her lips parted and her eyes wide as she blinks rapidly, and for a moment, Rhino reels a little, wondering if, perhaps, Meredith had changed her mind, though when the other girl begins to grin broadly, one of the most delighted looks Rhino had ever seen gleaming in her grey-blue eyes.

It takes a moment for Rhino to realise that her thumb is still gently pressed against the slightly taller girl’s lips, and she awkwardly moves her hand back with a sheepish laugh.

“You can speak now.”

“I love you too.”

Rhino hadn’t expected Meredith to be so quick with that, and it takes a moment for the words to hit, though as they do Rhino finds herself grinning broadly, growing, to her surprise, rather emotional as she squeezes the hand she has a hold of harder.

“I should’ve said something too,” Meredith sighs, her gaze warm as she regards Rhino. “I’m sorry I didn’t, I’m just not used to this at all.”

“Neither am I,” Rhino chuckles. “Guess we’ll just have to get used to it, however long that takes.”

“I’ve never been with someone before,” Meredith admits softly, glancing to the side as if the fact embarrassed her. “So if I do screw up-”

“I’ll let you know.”

Meredith nods, a grateful look flashing onto her face for a moment. “Thank you.”

They’re both silent for a moment, before an idea pops into Rhino’s head, and she blurts it out before she even thinks about it.

“If everything turns out okay,” she starts, meeting Meredith’s gaze once more. “I want to take you down to Ibauric tomorrow, show you around, I...know you were curious on our way in, and I know some great places to check out before we leave.”

“That sounds great,” Meredith nods, beaming. “I’d love to.”

“Good,” Rhino nods, and, finally feeling the same burst of confidence she’d felt back in the bathhouse, she exhales slowly, her gaze moving down from her eyes. She can tell that Meredith is following her gaze, though Rhino notices her tilt her head a little in confusion when Rhino moves close. 

“What’re you…”

“Kissing you when I’m sober,” Rhino mutters with a faint smirk, leaning to close the distance, smiling into the kiss she places on Meredith’s lips gently, it only growing when the other girl slowly begins to reciprocate.

Thoughts of what could happen in a few hours evade her, as much as Rhino knew she should likely worry, she’d rather wait until the news hit, and spend her time thinking about much, much better things.

\-----------------------------------------

“You know, I really don’t see why they asked us to be here if they were going to make us stand over here while they talked.”

“Me either, but, honestly, I’ll take this over having to hear what they’re saying.”

Amber stood next to Vi in the throne room whilst their mothers stood farther off, talking in hushed voices that neither she nor Vi could catch even if they leaned as far as they could toward them. The princess’ feet were shuffling, and Vi’s jaw was clenched as the two could only watch the two discuss whatever it was they were talking about.

So far, it was going smoothly, Amber noticed that Kasdeya hadn’t shown a single sign of dislike toward the terms her mother was offering so far outside of some slightly skeptical looks, and her mother was keeping calm throughout the entire thing, her expression staying mostly the same the entire time they’d been talking.

“Vi,” Amber murmurs, eyeing the two queens warily as she speaks. “Your mother, you know her best, how do you think she’s taking this?”

“If you want my honest opinion,” Vi starts leaning to the side a little. “She’s taking it surprisingly well, normally by now if she’d spotted something she hadn’t agreed with she’d make it very known, and though she’s spoken, she doesn’t look...angry.”

I’ll take that as a good sign,” Amber nods, worrying her lower lip with her teeth as the two older women suddenly stop talking entirely, nodding once before they turn to look toward the two girls nearby.

“You two,” Kasdeya starts, jerking her head to the side. “Come over here for a moment.”

Amber and Vi gaze at each other for a moment, nervous looks on their faces as Amber smiles slowly, weakly.

“Well, this is it.”

Vi nods.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, so much.”

“We’ve got this, alright?”

“I know we do.”

Heading over to the two queens felt like trying to walk through thick mud, their steps laborious and heavy as they neared the table the two were sitting at. Once arriving, both Kasdeya and Lorelei regarded them with unreadable looks, ones that unnerve Amber until her mother notices their worried looks and parts her lips to chuckle. Amber’s head snaps toward her, eyes widening.

“You two look like you’ve been caught in the act of a crime,” Lorelei remarks, sharing, to both Amber and Vi’s surprise, an amused look with Kasdeya. “Calm down, both of you, we’ve come to an agreement.”

“Wait, what?!” Vi gasps, eye widening. “You did?” her gaze snaps toward her mother, who rolls her eyes.

“Don’t act so surprised, what you and Rhino told me last night...I thought about it, admittedly,” Kasdeya sighs softly, shaking her head. “As much as I want to keep my pride and say we don’t need help...we do need the help, at this rate, Agraewyn is in danger, and…” Kasdeya laughs bitterly. “It’s not like any other kingdom would help us, the fact that Aetheria is even offering...I should be more grateful than I already am, I don’t like watching my own people suffer.”

“You’re going to follow all the terms, then?”

“Yes,” Kasdeya nods, before nodding toward Lorelei. “Believe me, I was tempted to fight on the idea of Agraewyn losing it’s normal ways...but now that I’ve seen what happens when we get stuck in a dangerous position without any help...I’m not that interested in experiencing it again.”

“And you won’t have to with this alliance,” Lorelei nods. 

Kasdeya nods back once more. “Indeed, and, Vi,” she chuckles. “Even if I had said no, I wouldn’t actually have her executed,” she points at Amber for a moment. “As much of a hard ruler I can be, I’m not going to hurt my daughter.”

“That would have been nice to know earlier, for both her and my sakes…” Vi grumbles with a roll of her eye. “But...does this officially make Agraewyn and Aetheria allies?”

“It does,” Kasdeya confirms. “I’ll address the people in Ibauric tomorrow, news should spread fast, and as for you and your friends,” Amber still finds herself growing intimidated when Kasdeya eyes her, “you’re allowed to roam the castle and Ibauric to your leisure if you’d like, however, do be wary of anyone who might not...support this idea, Agraewyn has never changed it’s ways before, some might not like the change.”

“If someone tries anything I’ll make them wish they’d only got thrown in the dungeons,” Vi promises beside Amber, who smiles slightly and rolls her eyes.

“I’m not so sure we’ll be here much longer, I should be getting back-” Lorelei starts, though the look Amber sends her makes her falter. “Amber…”

“Please, mother? Vi _promised_ to show me around Ibauric tomorrow!” Amber begs almost childishly, making Vi snicker and flash a smug smirk as Lorelei groans.

“Okay, okay, fine, one more day, but that’s it! We have to get back home eventually, Amber.”

A smug smirk almost like the one on Vi’s lips appears on Amber, and Lorelei looks up toward the ceiling in exasperation as she leans against Vi. “Thank you!”

“Hm, perhaps my daughter has become an influence for yours, wouldn’t you say?” Kasdeya smirks, making Lorelei give her a sideways glance.

“I don’t want to know whether that’s a good thing or not.”

Vi turns to Amber as the two queens idly chat, her single blue eye alight with excitement. “We should go tell Mer and Rhi, thank God we didn’t have to do our other plan-”

“And what was that other plan?”

“Nothing, mother!”

\------------------

Vi, for once, manages to sprint faster than Amber to Meredith’s room, and the knight shoves the door without even knocking, to Amber’s amusement, though Amber halts just outside the room when a loud yell rings out, followed by Vi bursting out laughing so loudly it echoed in the hallways despite the knight not being in them at the moment.

“DID YOU EVEN CONSIDER THAT KNOCKING MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA?!”

“HOLY SHIT, I FUCKING KNEW IT!”

“I’M GOING TO _KILL YOU._ ”

“Babe, it’s not like she caught us fucking or anyth-”

_“BABE?!”_

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, VI.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One,,,,more chapter,,,,,,,
> 
> Next Chapter is our last. There is no epilogue, I felt like it didn't need to be there, honestly.


	19. XVIII - The Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter to settle it all!

“I can’t believe they left for Ibauric without us.”

“To be fair, Vi, barging in on them kissing without knocking wasn’t too nice.”

“Okay, but it was still fucking hilarious.”

Amber rolls her eyes, following Vi down the steps that led to the front of the castle, the gate a little bit further off. “I’m still shocked that Rhino didn’t kick your ass for that, she looked like she wanted to.”

“Well, finding out that her girlfriend wasn’t possibly on the chopping block and that the plan worked probably helped,’ Vi shrugs, glancing over her shoulder to smile at Amber. 

“True, true,” Amber giggles.

Meredith and Rhino had been, of course, overjoyed when they’d both found out that the plan had worked. They’d celebrated at dinner that evening after Vi’s mother had spoken to the citizens of Ibauric, drinking to their heart’s content and chatting amongst one another until they all got too tired to do anything else. 

According to Kasdeya, most of the people in Ibauric were responding positively to the news, the idea of getting aid making the idea of changing how the kingdom was run little to show concern over. Some, however, still seemed either skeptical over the alliance, or against it entirely, though it was only a few compared to the other group.

It was the afternoon now, close to the evening of their final day in Agraewyn. Amber had at first wondered if Vi or Rhino would stay for a bit and not follow them home, partially out of slight fear, though the two seemed almost excited about the idea of going back to Aetheria. This time, though, Vi and Amber had packed this morning so they’d be more prepared, not that they had much to pack back up.

Amber had found herself growing rather fond of Agraewyn now that she was allowed to not only move around the palace, but also the city the palace rested in. She’d met Max this morning, and Amber quickly found herself liking him, finding it rather easy to talk to him compared to most other new people she’d met.

As they entered Ibauric, Vi moves back to grab Amber’s hand, and as Amber looks up she notices the knight giving anyone who gave them any weird looks that so much as teetered on negative a searing glare.

“You can’t blame them for not trusting me, as you said, they were all raised to not trust Aetheria, love,” Amber murmurs softly, as Vi’s hand releases her own, her arm moving to wrap around Amber’s shoulders gently.

“Yeah, well, they can keep it to themselves,” Vi growls lowly, pushing past some staring crowds to head further into the city. Where they were going first, Amber didn’t exactly know. Vi hadn’t told her a thing due to wanting to make it a surprise, and Amber followed along fine, having honestly just wanted to see Ibauric in general.

Ibauric reminded her of Aendryr, in a way. It wasn’t a dark city like most said it was, it was just a normal large city, with plenty of shops in the marketplace and plenty of people moving about. Amber _did_ notice more blacksmith shops than Aendryr had, but she made little note of it.

Most people staring aren’t staring rudely, it was likely just a shock to see their own princess so close with what was only a few days ago the enemy kingdom’s princess. Amber found it amusing, to be utterly honest, after all, one could consider them an unlikely couple.

When she’s suddenly tugged over into a random building due to being so deep in her thoughts, Amber lets out a faint gasp, snapping back into focus as Vi leads her inside a shop with multiple pieces of jewelry.

“First stop, here.”

“A jewelry shop?”

“Yeah, I used to be obsessed with this place as a kid, all the shiny stones and the like, when we go back to the castle I’ll show you this box in my room, I used to try and collect necklaces or rings with gemstones of every colour I could manage, I think I thought it might give me bragging rights as a kid.”

“God, that’s adorable,” Amber giggles, and Vi parts her lips to argue, but she seems to decide against it, letting Amber win for once as she turns, looking around.

“Pick out something you like, I’m going to spoil you this evening, and nothing you say will stop me,” Vi smirks, patting a large pouch of coin on her side that Amber just now noticed. It was positioned behind the sheath for the sword on her waist.

“If you weren’t royalty I wouldn’t let you no matter how hard you tried,” Amber sighs, rolling her eyes. “But I’ll let you this once, hold on.”

Looking around the shop, Amber eyes multiple necklaces with gemstone centres, her brows furrowed.

_‘Whatever it is, it should remind me of Vi, maybe a red one? Red is her favourite colour...or that pale blue one, her eyes are blue...and it matches my eyes too…’_

“That one,” Amber decides, pointing at a silver pendant with a large pale blue gemstone in the centre. Vi peeks over her to get a glimpse of it, her brows raising.

“Ooh, that’s pretty!” she comments, reaching over to grab it. “Good choice, but I’m not surprised, you _do_ have a good eye, after all, I mean, look at me!”

Amber rolls her eyes in amusement. “Of course, but speaking of my eyes, that’s why I got it, it reminds me of your eyes, as well as mine.”

That, she notices, makes Vi’s eye widen, a surprisingly flushed look on her face as she blinks before turning to hand the necklace to the salesperson, fumbling clumsily for the coin needed to pay for it. “I...thanks, but I’m supposed to be flattering you, not the other way around.”

“Well, too bad, flattering you makes me happy, you’re going to have to get used to it.”

Vi sighs, flashing a warm grin toward Amber as she shakes her head. “If you say so.”

Once they leave the jewelry store, Vi immediately begins to pull her toward some other building further down the path, insisting that, as the afternoon began to turn into evening, they get something to eat. It isn’t a shock to Amber, then, when they enter a bustling tavern, however, it does surprise Amber when they end up bumping into Meredith and Rhino inside.

“Well look who it is,” Vi starts cockily, grinning broadly. “The two lovebirds!”

The look Rhino gives Vi as soon as she turns around to face her makes Amber sigh, and she’s thankful that they’re given a table before the two could start to bicker.

Once their food arrives, Vi begins chatting with the two about their days, Amber listening in quietly.

“So, how have you two been doing today?”

“Great,” Meredith says, her mouth partially full. “We got to sleep late, pack up for tomorrow, and Rhino took me down here to walk around, and she took me to a really cool blacksmith and I got this!” she finishes, showing off a pretty silver dagger for a moment. “It’s gonna be my lucky dagger.”

“What about you both?” Rhino asks once Meredith finishes, chuckling at the thief’s antics.

“I took Amber to that jewelry store I went to as a kid, you remember it?”

“The one you kept going to as a kid to try and get all the gemstone colours?” Rhino’s expression grows almost wistful. “God, that was hilarious, you really thought people would think you were cool for having a ton of colourful rings.”

“Hey! Can’t blame a kid for having an imagination!” Vi argues. “I didn’t know how to be seen as cool yet at that age!”

“Clearly,” Rhino snickers, making Amber giggle. Vi scowls.

“To spare Vi of anymore embarrassment, Amber starts with another giggle, “I was wondering. When we head back tomorrow, what’re you both going to do after this? You know Vi and I will be in the castle doing our normal thing.”

“Unless we travel!” Vi pipes in.

“Yeah, unless we travel,” Amber nods. “But what about you two?”

“Hm…I dunno to be honest,” Meredith shrugs. “I guess my life will finally return to normal now that I don’t have anyone to stab or shoot anymore, what about you, Rhi?”

“I’m still thinking about it, honestly,” Rhino responds, drumming her nails on the table they sat at. “But I have a week of travel ahead of me with this goofball to think about it,” she adds, smirking a little as she reaches up to gently ruffle Meredith’s hair, making it messier than it usually was.

“Well, whatever we all do, we’ll still have each other, and for once we won’t have to worry about someone trying to kill one or all of us,” Amber smiles, watching as Meredith stops trying to push Rhino’s arm away to grin warmly.

“Speaking of,” Rhino adds in, wryly smirking. “Have anyone tried to vocally express their distaste toward you two here yet? Meredith and I got a few jeers.”

“Uh...no,” Vi shakes her head. “If someone even tried I’d kick the shit out of them, but the most we’ve gotten is a few glares.”

“I expected as much, you both are royals, if someone tried hurting either of you they’d get executed, I’d reckon,” Rhino nods. “Mer and I aren’t, someone decided to make their opinions of Aetherians very clear today, it took everything in me to hold Meredith back from kicking his ass.”

“I’m...frankly surprised you held her back in the first place,” Vi responds, brows raised as Rhino chuckles softly, smirking.

“Only so I could kick his ass instead.”

“There it is,” Vi laughs, shaking her head. “People know of your close ties with the royal family, I’m surprised they even tried to pick a fight with you.”

“Well, they got reminded on why not to fuck with me, or Meredith now too.”

“I still want to fight the next idiot that tries something,” Meredith huffs, as Rhino shakes her head.

“Kasdeya said you aren’t supposed to get yourself in trouble, Mer.”

“Defending my girlfriend and my honour isn’t getting in trouble, besides, I’m sure she’d agree that they deserved it.”

“...Mer has a point,” Vi chuckles. “My mother would probably excuse it, she made it clear that nobody is supposed to treat any of us differently, some people just don’t like to listen.”

“Well, then I’ll just let Meredith at the next one, that will surely raise Aetheria’s already low reputation with us! This allyship will surely start off wonderfully.”

“Okay, okay,” Vi sighs. “You have a point, but I dunno, if people are being asses to you both, I think you’d both have the right to defend yourselves, not just you, Rhi.”

“Well,” Rhino shrugs. “Let’s just hope nobody else does try anything, so I don’t have to consider it again.”

“Agreed.”

Once they finished eating, they pay for their food, and Amber follows Vi and Rhino beside Meredith, watching the two turn to chat outside the tavern as she quietly glances at Meredith.

“So,” Amber starts, smiling slightly as the thief looks down at her. “Looks like we both won in the end, in more ways than one.”

“You noticed,” Meredith smiles, moving close to sling an arm over her shoulder. “I can’t believe that just a few months ago I was still fully believing that I’d never be capable of a relationship outside of a purely sexual one.”

“Well,” Amber breathes. “I can’t believe that several months ago, I was giving up because of being trapped in a betrothal I didn’t want,” she sighs, before giggling softly as she flashes an amused look toward Meredith. “I think if someone had told the both of us that we’d end up with two wonderful women from _Agraewyn_ of all places, we’d have just laughed.”

“If you’d tell me I’d have helped cause a kingdom to change it’s wrong ways, I would have laughed too,” Meredith smiles wistfully, as if remembering the person she was only months prior. “God, I wouldn’t change any of this even if I was offered anything, immortality, endless riches, none of that compares to this.”

“How poetic,” Amber chuckles, leaning into the sideways hug Meredith suddenly pulls her in. “I’m glad you and Rhino are finally a thing, by the way, don’t tell her I said this, but seeing her this happy has been making Vi really happy.”

“Has it? I could say the same thing, you know,” Meredith breathes softly, and Amber watches how her gaze softens when it settles on the blonde a few feet away. “Not to be sappy but I really love her smile.”

“Get used to being sappy, it happens to the strongest of us, you should see Vi when she gets all sappy.”

“Unfortunately for her, despite how tough she claims to be, I could totally see it,” Meredith laughs. “Something I never mentioned is that after we both went for Drake and his men, I was just...so floored when seeing the same girl who mercilessly slew three men only a while prior being so soft around you. It’s honestly really cute.”

“Oh, I know,” Amber grins. It was one of the things she liked the most about their dynamic, after all.

“Though it’s clearly rubbing off on you, too, after what you did to Joseph, did Rhino ever tell you how I reacted to her telling me about it?”

“No, she didn’t, what’d you do?”

“I told her she probably hit her head too, which royally pissed her off,” Meredith snickers, a goofy smile on her face. “It was really fucking funny.”

“I don’t blame her for being pissed, Christ, Mer.”

“In my defence, the idea of you stabbing someone in the throat was a little unrealistic for me to believe! I’ve always seen you as soft, guess I got one thing wrong.”

“Absolutely, you better keep an eye out from now on, I could get you when you least expect it.”

“Oh, absolutely, I worry for my ankles, they’re the only thing you can reach, you kn- OW!”

Vi and Rhino turn around to glance at Amber and Meredith as the taller of the two reaches down to hold her ankle, which Amber had kicked in response to what she’d said.

“Hm, looks like you’re right!” Amber shrugs, grinning smugly as Meredith turns to glare at her. “Seems like I can only hit ankles, what a shame.”

“Rhi! She kicked me!”

Rhino gives her girlfriend a blank look. “You probably deserved it.”

“Hey! You’re supposed to defend me!”

“Not when you’re being a dumbass, now,” Rhino looks at the slowly darkening sky. “We should head off, there’s one more place I want to show Mer, and it’s getting dark.”

“Rhi’s right,” Vi nods. “I want to take Amber to maybe one more place and then head back, we’re gonna have a long day tomorrow.”

“You two have fun, then,” Rhino nods, moving back to grab a still quietly cursing Meredith’s hand. “We’ll see you in the morning, I’d assume?”

“Yeah!” Vi nods, before jerking her head at Amber. “Come on, love, let’s get going.”

They wave Meredith and Rhino off before heading in the opposite direction, back toward the castle. The crowds had begun to dwindle as the sky grew darker, and it’s a few minutes before they stop at a bakery near the castle gate. 

“Thank God, they’re not closed yet,” Vi smiles, gently tugging Amber inside. “They have tarts, buns, small cakes, and pies here, I used to love this place as a kid.”

“I can imagine why, it smells heavenly in here,” Amber breathes, noticing the bakers both look up and wave happily toward Vi, their eyes settling on her for a moment before waving to her too. It makes Amber grin a little as she shyly waves back.

“I’m gonna get some cakes, do you want anything?”

“Er…” Amber looks around, eyeing the pastries that were still on sale, most were gone at this point since the bakery was likely about to close. Despite that, she still managed to find a strawberry tart resting on a small display tray, and she picked that and a blueberry one, remembering the ones from home fondly.

Once Vi pays for them, she chats with the bakers idly while they wait for them to be packaged. Amber strays to the side, looking around more, until she turns, thinking she had heard her name. She notices Vi pointing toward her with a smug smirk, and it only takes moments for Amber to realise that the knight was bragging about her, her cheeks growing red as the bakers glance at her as Vi speaks.

They leave soon after that, Vi’s arm over Amber’s shoulders as they grow closer to the castle gate. While they’re walking, Amber notices the same person who glared at them so strongly still where he was before, much to Vi’s suspicion.

Sure enough, he glares at them again while they pass, and Vi suddenly stops a few feet past him, turning to look at him as she gently pushes Amber behind her.

“Is there a reason why you’re still glaring at us? Don’t you have anything better to do? Fuck off.”

The man stiffens, his lip curling into a scowl. “Just wondering why you carry yourself with such filth like an Aetherian, when this “alliance” is nothing but a lie they’re going to use to betray us.”

“Really? Are they?” Vi raises her brows, her muscles tensing, Amber notices, as if she were getting ready to defend herself if she’d have to. “Wow, Amber, I can’t believe you’re actually a liar! After months of us being together, too, months of me being in Aetheria, too.”

Amber’s tugged to Vi’s side suddenly, the knight once again draping an arm around her shoulders. “Sorry, buddy, but you’re gonna have to get _used_ to this alliance, especially when I’m crowned as queen alongside her, in Aetheria of course.”

The man that had once been glaring at them both was now staring at them, slack-jawed as Vi smirks broadly.

“Now go home before I kick your fucking teeth in.”

Watching him stumble backwards before scurrying off back toward the city makes Amber giggle, and Vi puffs out her chest proudly for a moment before she turns her head to kiss the side of Amber’s head gently.

“See? They’re just mad things are changing, but they’ll have to deal with it,” she states, beginning to lead Amber inside the gates, quickening their pace as they enter the castle.

As they walk in the halls, nearing the staircase, Amber eyes Vi for a moment, smiling. “So, I assume we’re going to your room tonight? I’m excited.”

“Oh, are you now?” Vi smirks, wiggling her brows as Amber sighs softly and rolls her eyes in amusement. “But, yeah, we are, if you’re gonna be here for one last night, you’re gonna be in the best room in the castle.”

“The best, huh?” Amber remarks wryly as they begin to head up the stairs, noticing quickly how many flights they were going up. “Is...it-”

“On the highest floor? Yeah, it’s in one of the towers on the side of the castle, it has a damn good view too,” Vi answers with a proud smirk, one that makes Amber grin slightly.

“How’d you score that room, then?”

“I asked nicely.”

Amber snorts at how simple the answer was. “Of course.”

Eventually, they reach a door after travelling up another set of spiralling steps, and Vi leads Amber into a large, circular room with a couple windows next to a door that led to a balcony similar to Amber’s. One that likely gave someone a view of the entire kingdom with how high up they likely were.

The room screamed “Vi”. Weapons, mostly swords or daggers were on the wall or positioned haphazardly against the wall, there were a few books on a desk nearby, a set of armour sat on an armour stand next to what looked like a wardrobe. It was a little messy, but not badly so, and there were various trinkets or personal objects on the shelves in her room. It was nice, Amber realised, and she liked it quite a bit.

“This is certainly your room,” Amber giggles, as Vi turns and cocks a brow at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing bad, I like it,” Amber murmurs honestly, moving further inside. “It reminds me of you, of course, why would it be bad?”

“God, you’re such a sap,” Vi mumbles, sighing happily as she slowly saunters over to face Amber, wrapping her arms around her waist as the princess looks up at her.

“When we get back home I should host another party,” Amber thinks out loud, her gaze meeting Vi’s warmly as the taller girl tilts her head a little.

“I thought you didn’t like them.”

“Not when Drake was around, I didn’t...but now I don’t have to dance with people I don’t like, do I?” Amber grins, her arms going around Vi’s neck as she moves onto her tiptoes. “Which is why I want to host another party, I miss dancing with you, and we could always go back to the clearing when it ends…”

“And have a repeat of the last time we did that?”

Amber sighs. “That isn’t what I meant but...maybe,” she murmurs, her face growing warm at the implication. 

Vi’s grin nearly makes Amber laugh as the knight begins to move back toward the bed, Amber finally noticing how dark the sky outside was. 

“Honestly, I actually can’t wait to get back to Aetheria,” Vi admits with a sigh, allowing Amber to push her on the bed when they get close enough, crawling backwards on her back so she could lay back against the pillows. Amber follows her, sitting beside her on the bed. “I miss taking walks with you in the mornings, or going to eat at the tavern.”

“Yeah,” Amber breathes wistfully. “I miss Skylar. I can’t wait to tell her all about what’s happened since we left.”

“I’m sure she’ll enjoy that, she’s probably worried sick about all of us,” Vi laughs, watching Amber eye her with a slight smirk. “But I specifically miss the clearing, you know, for memories-”

“Good _lord, _” Amber groans, shoving her face into her hands. “I can’t tell if you actually feel wistful toward the clearing or if you’re just trying to make fun of me.”__

__“A little bit of both, honestly,” Vi shrugs. “It was certainly an interesting place to have your first time in, though, I remember swearing you’d eventually realise where we were and would ask me to move you to your room, funnily enough.”_ _

__“I’m not that boring, love,” Amber huffs, as an idea sparks in her head and she smirks mischievously, her blue eyes locking onto Vi as she slowly moves closer to her. Vi squints at her, though her eye widens as Amber slowly sidles her way into climbing over her, moving to straddle her with a giggle._ _

__“Okay, well, look, you don’t have to try and prove that you aren’t boring by trying to-”_ _

__“That’s not what I’m doing, dumbass,” Amber snorts, leaning down. “We did this yesterday, remember?”_ _

__Vi seems to remember once Amber’s leaning enough that her hair tickles the sides of her face. “Ohh, yeah, when I pulled you on me,” she breathes, smirking as she eyes her with a half-lidded eye._ _

__“You know, if that’s your way of telling me that you’re a-”_ _

__“It’s not, but please, I urge you, try to claim I am, you’ll be proved wrong pretty quickly,” Vi winks, making Amber’s face darken as the knight snickers, though before she can say anything else the princess moves forward and presses a clumsy, but passionate kiss to Vi’s lips, gasping a bit when the knight pulls her closer by placing both hands on her face. Once it deepens after a moment, Amber’s heart begins to race, and she debates pulling away._ _

___‘We have to sleep...we’re going to be up early tomorrow...but this could tire us out, right? Plus, after the shit we went through these past few days, I can’t say I don’t want to, I’d be lying.’_ _ _

__She pulls back to regain her breath with a sigh, eyeing Vi carefully as the knight breathes heavily below her, and though Amber bites her lip the look Vi gives her and the brief nod she returns seems to give them all the permission they need._ _

__Before Vi can move, her hands settled on Amber’s waist in an obvious position so that she could flip them over, Amber raises her arms, making Vi pause and her eye narrow in confusion, watching as Amber moves her hands behind her back._ _

__“What’re you trying to do? Pull a knife from the back of your dress and stab me with it?”_ _

__“Yeah, sure, that’s what I’m doing, babe, after all these months,” Amber rolls her eyes, one finger hooking on the loop of the tie of her dress. She pulls gently, undoing the loose tie with a slight smirk._ _

__Vi realises what’s going on as soon as the top of her dress begins to slowly fall, and she grins broadly. “Can I flip us over now?”_ _

__Amber eyes her as she rolls her shoulders, the sleeves of her dress falling with the rest of it until the fabric falls to her waist. “Go ahead,” she smirks, feeling the grip on her waist tighten as Vi moves to sit up, pushing her down onto the bed swiftly, Amber giggling as her back hits the mattress._ _

__\----------------------------_ _

__Meredith’s eyes follow the stars as she follows Rhino, nearly bumping into her once she suddenly stops._ _

__“We’re here,” the blonde breathes, though her hair shines a silvery-white colour in the moonlight as she turns. Meredith looks around her brows raising._ _

__They were a little ways away from the entrance to Ibauric, outside the city in a small field with small hills. Flowers swayed in the light breeze, and though Meredith certainly likes the view it gives, she tilts her head a little as she turns back to regard Rhino._ _

__“What’re we out here for?” she asks, not trying to be rude, simply curious as Rhino chuckles and eyes her with amusement glittering in her eyes._ _

__“Two reasons,” she starts. “One, because this field is the same place I used to go sit at when I needed to be alone, and two, because if we lay down on that hill right there,” she points at the steepest hill in the field, “it might be like that one night…”_ _

__“Oh! When we both fell down the hill running from the castle!” Meredith nods, chuckling. “That’s oddly specific.”_ _

__Rhino smiles, leading Meredith down to the hill before she sits down, Meredith following suit. “Back at the hill that one night, that’s when I really realised I was in love with you,” she explains with an almost sheepish look on her face. “So I thought this might be nice, we can lay out here for the night, if we don’t fall asleep we’ll go back to the castle when we feel like it.”_ _

__“Sounds good to me!” Meredith nods, flopping back onto her back with a broad grin. “It’s nice out here, and I’m with the person I love, how could I dislike this?”_ _

__Rhino chuckles and lays down beside Meredith. The two twine hands while they lay down, staring at the night sky, the silence is only breached when Meredith speaks._ _

__“So.”_ _

__“So?”_ _

__“What’re you...going to do when we get settled back in Aetheria?”_ _

__“Me?” Rhino says, and Meredith turns her head to see the other girl staring back at her. “Well...I’ve been thinking about that, I don’t really know yet, maybe I’ll take odd jobs, but I have plenty of time to think about it.”_ _

__“You don’t have to find work super soon, but if...anything you can join the thieves guild for a bit, maybe? Until you find something else? The leader and I are close, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”_ _

__“Hm…” Rhino sighs. “Larceny isn’t something I’m against doing, I have the stealth for it but...it’s not something I could foresee myself doing for a while.”_ _

__“You were an assassin here, right? That’s always what I assumed.”_ _

__“Mm, yes and no, I did assassin work, it was something Vi and I trained for, though I consider myself more of a mercenary, Vi would probably tell you the same thing if you asked her. We both trained as knights, but we were selected for a program to teach us assassination, basically.”_ _

__“There’s a fighters guild in Aendryr!” Meredith comments. “They do mercenary work I’m pretty sure, and even if that isn’t your speed, you know Lorelei would let you join the guard if you asked.”_ _

__“If I wanted to join the guard I’d be aiming to be commander in the future, and we both know that Vi is likely going to get that job, even if she becomes queen, she’ll find some way to keep it,” Rhino rolls her eyes. “It’s always been a dream of Vi’s to be the commander of the guard, back when we were kids she idolised the one in service around that time.”_ _

__“Well, the fighter’s guild is still open, and…” Meredith pauses. “I know this job likely might not be your speed but...when and if Vi ever becomes queen alongside Amber, the both of them will need advisors, and considering it’s their choice who they have serving beside them...Vi could end up picking you.”_ _

__Rhino grows thoughtful for a moment, her brows furrowing just slightly. “Hm…” she hums, and she doesn’t speak for another moment. “That is possible, you’re right,” she nods._ _

__“Advisors get all sorts of benefits too, they get to sleep in the castle, they have control over the castle when both rulers are gone, they help the royal their assigned to make decisions, and,” Meredith’s grin grows as she winks at Rhino. “Knowing Vi, you could probably manage to add your own sort of twist to it, maybe you could help handle Vi’s commander duties when she can’t, hell, if you talk with her about it when the time comes, she could possibly just have a second commander of the guard! Then you’d get what you wanted!”_ _

__“Tempting, tempting,” Rhino smirks slightly. “Plus, I get to call her an idiot anytime I want too, since I’ll be with her most of the- oh,” she frowns. “I’ll be with her most of the time, what about you?”_ _

__“If you think I won’t visit the castle all time, you’re mistaken,” Meredith points out. “God knows what I might be doing in the years to come, anyway.”_ _

__“Still...you know what?” Rhino shakes her head. “We have _years_ before anything of that sort happens, we shouldn’t worry about that right now, to answer your question shortly, the fighter’s guild might be where I start, we’ll see when we get back, alright?”_ _

__“I can introduce you to them when we get back, I used to be with them until I found the thieves guild,” Meredith nods. “But...enough with that stressful shit, let’s just focus on...the now, what do you think Amber and Vi are up to?”_ _

__Rhino snorts. “You know exactly what they’re probably doing right now, I know Vi very well, she didn’t take Amber up to her room just so they could sleep on a nice bed.”_ _

__“I was going to guess the same thing,” Meredith snickers, throwing her arms back so she could lay her head on her hands. “I bet your ass they’re thinking we’re doing the same thing.”_ _

__“Oh, absolutely, the jokes Vi will make tomorrow are going to be hell in itself,” Rhino nods with a sigh of faint amusement. “Normally, I’d be open to doing that too, but...the first building in Ibauric is like...less than fifteen feet away and I’m solidly sure there are guards patrolling around here.”_ _

__The idea of being caught in the act by some guard makes Meredith childishly snicker. “God, that’d be fun to explain, wouldn’t it?”_ _

__“Extremely,” Rhino sarcastically replies, though a few chuckles manage to leave her lips._ _

__“Hmm,” Meredith hums in thought, trying to think of more conversation topics. “What was it like growing up here?”_ _

__Rhino had begun to scoot closer to Meredith as she’d begun to speak, the blonde settling flush against her left side. “Growing up here?” she repeats. “Well, I mean, it was nice, outside of the whole “being raised to believe that any kingdom that wasn’t Agraewyn was evil” thing,” she shrugs. “I grew up around Vi most the time, my sister was my “guardian” of sorts, as I’ve told you before. I guess my time here was pretty good, though, considering most of my memories here are...good.”_ _

__“That’s good, can’t say the same for my home kingdom,” Meredith laughs, though there’s a bit of strain in it, something Rhino notices._ _

__“Karewyth can go fuck itself, along with your parents,” Rhino says sharply._ _

__“You know, one of my big dreams when I joined the thieves guild was to one day go back to Karewyth and steal a shit ton of stuff from them...perhaps-”_ _

__“We can go? Maybe if we’re lucky we can kick their asses and run before the guards could catch us too,” Rhino smirks, flashing Meredith a cocky look before she leans up to kiss her cheek. “I know Vi and Amber mentioned travelling in the future, perhaps we can do that too.”_ _

__“Sounds good, a vacation to Karewyth that might last a few hours at most,” Meredith laughs as Rhino giggles._ _

__“Hey, I get to be with you _and_ I get to kick some horrible people’s asses, it’s kind of the dream.”_ _

__“Have I mentioned how much I love it when you get sappy?_ _

__“What can I say?” Rhino sighs softly, not saying something snarky for once as she glances at Meredith. “I can’t help it when I’m around you.”_ _

__Meredith blinks, and she internally curses as she feels her cheeks grow a little warm as she smiles a smile that’s just as genuine as the one that Rhino was giving her, before her expression suddenly grows serious._ _

__“But don’t go telling anyone else I’m like this when with you, or I’ll stop.”_ _

__Meredith laughs again, her eyes glittering with amusement as she nods._ _

__“I promise.”_ _

__\------------------------------------_ _

__Come morning, Amber’s standing alone on the balcony in Vi’s room. She hadn’t gotten properly dressed yet, she was still in a nightgown she’d pulled on when she’d woken up, and she sighs softly as she watches the sunrise._ _

__The view Vi had from her room was amazing, just as Amber had suspected, you could see the entire kingdom from it, and the light breeze was making her messy hair sway a little in the wind as Amber leaned against the guard on the balcony, her arms propped up on the cold stone._ _

__She knew that in an hour or so she’d have to leave, she’d have to go back to the carriage for another week of travel, not that she had any problems with travelling with her friends. She just almost wished she could stay a bit longer, not forever, she knew that, but just for a few more days._ _

___‘But mother has a kingdom to rule, one that I’m to take over eventually. It’s not like I dislike the idea of ruling despite the stress, once I’m older I might gladly take the position, I just don’t want all that responsibility right now, perhaps in ten years or more, I’ll be near thirty then, that’s old enough, right?’_ _ _

__For all Amber knew, her mother could outlive her, depending on if one of them were to die of sickness. It wasn’t what Amber wanted at all, of course, she knew her mother expected her to take the throne at some point, a part of her just worried that she wouldn’t be the ruler her mother expected her to be._ _

___‘I shouldn’t care about that, though, I’ll be the ruler I want to be, I just hope Aetheria will like the ruler I become when the time comes.’_ _ _

__She stiffens for a moment when hearing footsteps and a yawn, though when Vi steps onto the balcony and moves to wrap her arms around her, warm silk and skin touching her breeze-chilled form, she softens, exhaling slowly as she melts into Vi’s embrace._ _

__“Hey,” Vi murmurs, pressing a kiss to her head. “You okay? I can tell something’s bothering you.”_ _

__It’d taken Amber a moment to realise that Vi had begun to memorise her body language due to being together for so long now, and she finds herself smiling a little despite the thoughts running through her head._ _

__“I’m alright,” she murmurs, nodding just a little. “I just have a lot on my mind.”_ _

__“Oh? Do you feel like sharing? Or is this private?”_ _

__“It’s fine, I can talk about it,” Amber shakes her head. “I suppose I’m just worrying about the future, about ruling when the time comes.”_ _

__“Ah, I get it,” Vi presses another kiss against the back of Amber’s head. “You’re stressed about the weight of the position, aren’t you?”_ _

__“Yeah, even though it could be several years before I take my mother’s place,” Amber sighs with a short laugh. “I guess being here has just made me realise the weight on my mother’s shoulders, making alliances to keep out of wars, having to not be in other kingdoms for long due to ruling your own...all of that.”_ _

__“Well,” Vi starts, her breath tickling Amber’s ear. “You’re right about one thing, Amb, and that’s that you probably won’t have to worry about this for quite some time. Your mother isn’t that old, you know, and she’s perfectly healthy, she’s not leaving anytime soon, you could be well into your fifties and your mother might still be ruling.”_ _

__“Exactly, so I don’t know why I’m so concerned over this.”_ _

__“Perhaps it’s because you’ve had to watch your mother stress out over this alliance, and because you’ve now finally seen what it’s like for her when she’s in full control of her own kingdom? Or you’re just anxious, Amber, it’s okay.”_ _

__“Yeah, you’re right, and,” Amber turns, smiling as Vi backs up a bit to look down at her. “Besides, I’ll have you with me, right? With you around, I feel stronger than ever.”_ _

__“Of course you’ll have me, we did already propose in that bath, remember?” Vi teases, managing to unearth a shy grin from Amber. “Amber, I’ll be by your side always, whether I’m your guard, princess of Agraewyn, commander of the guard, or queen,” Vi pauses to gently cup Amber’s face in her hands. “You don’t need to worry about these things now, okay? Let’s focus on living out our youths the way _we_ want to, whether we’re travelling, hanging out with Mer and Rhi, or just laying in bed together, because, babe, you’re nineteen, I’m twenty, we’re young, and unless your mother drops dead anytime soon, we don’t need to worry about any of this until it happens.”_ _

__“You’re right,” Amber nods, smiling warmly as Vi leans down a little to press their foreheads together. “Who let you be so good at giving advice?”_ _

__Vi shrugs slightly, chuckling. “I don’t know, but I do know that seeing you happy is one of my priorities,” she answers. “Maybe that’s when my brain decides to finally let me say the right things.”_ _

__Amber laughs at that, and she leans up, gently pulling Vi down further to kiss her chastely. “I could say the same thing about you.”_ _

__“Well, then we both know that as long as we’re together, we’ll know how to make the other happy,” Vi whispers, moving her arms to wrap around Amber’s waist._ _

__“And...you’ll be happy in Aetheria with me, right?” Amber wonders aloud, blinking up at Vi as her brows furrow. “You don’t mind not being here, with your family?”_ _

__“I can visit or write letters, Amber,” Vi chuckles. “I’d be asking you the same question if you decided to move here, you know.”_ _

__“And I would have told you the same answer,” Amber admits with a sigh._ _

__“Exactly,” Vi nods, before a soft, warm, genuine smile crosses her lips, and she sighs. “Amber?”_ _

__“Yes?”_ _

__“I love you.”_ _

__Amber’s gaze softens, her smile genuine, her eyes betraying the love she felt for Vi better than words ever could, though she still murmurs. “I love you too,” as the knight leans down to kiss her again, staying like that for a while in the cool morning breeze, and when she pulls back Amber watches her eye squint toward the rising sun._ _

__“Come on, we should get breakfast before we have to get in the carriages,” she says, moving from the embrace to turn, though before she does that she reaches her hand out for Amber to grab._ _

__Amber turns for one moment to look back at the sprawling city of Ibauric and the forest ahead of it, watching as the tops of buildings begin to have the morning sun shine on them, knowing that the citizens who ran the shops were likely beginning to rise now._ _

__She turns to Vi, takes her hand, offers her a small smile, and lets her lead her back inside._ _

__And once their fingers intertwine and their hands lock together, a small part of her hopes that they never break apart._ _

__But a much larger part of her knows they never will, no matter what happens in the coming years, no matter what obstacle or hardship takes place of the last._ _

__And with a soft exhale, Amber knows she’ll be ready for the future, no matter what it brought._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. This story took me a long, long time to write, and now that it's done I will be taking a MUCH needed break from writing outside of anything I do outside of storytelling. Regardless, I'm proud of this story, I poured my heart and soul into it and it's done, and I am proud.
> 
> This story's end is meant for you to decide what happened. Did Amber become queen? Did she die before her mother? When did she become queen? A year later? 27? 30? 57? Did she and Vi stay together? Did they all go on the adventures they promised? It's up to you. I have my own ideas, but they're just my own.
> 
> Vi, Max, Kasdeya, and Rhino all belong to my friend, @pestilencexvi on tumblr/@Tokubiko on twitter  
> Amber, Meredith, Skylar, Drake, Joseph, and any side characters belong to me.
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading.


End file.
